Back 4 More: Southern Edition
by Xorncon - Number 0
Summary: They thought that they'd be safe after they crossed the bridge in New Orleans, but and unfortunate accident causes Coach, Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle to be thrown back into the zombie hell they believed they could escape. Read and review please
1. The Bridge

So um…I lied: it takes place right before the bridge…don't sue, just enjoy!

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They were safe for the moment. They closed the door on a horde of zombies that started wailing on the door, trying to get in to kill the survivors. Nick and Coach started pushing nearby crates in front of the door after Rochelle slammed the bar down. After putting up a barricade, the survivors took a minute to catch their breath and reload their weapons.

"Before we run across the bridge towards the people who have been dropping bombs on us, does anyone else wanna talk about a plan B?" The other three survivors spun their heads towards Nick.

"Well if you got a problem Nick, then you can feel free to start your new life right here in this room."

The survivor in the suit laughed and shook his head before slamming a fresh clip of ammo into his assault rifle. "Alright, let's go." The safe house door flew open, and Nick ran up grabbing the radio sitting in the dead guy's lap, hearing two men talking to one another. "Hey," Nick shouted into the radio.

"That's coming from the bridge," one of the voices shouted. "Bridge, identify yourself!"

"Name's Nick, there are four of us on the…on the west end of the bridge!"

"Bridge, are you immune?"

"We are NOT infected!"

"Negative bridge, are you immune? Have you encountered the infected?" Nick rolled his eyes. They've been fighting zombies for nearly a week and this idiot decides to play twenty questions. "Repeat bridge, have you encountered the infected?"

"Yeah," Nick exclaimed, venom and sarcasm dripping from his tone. "You could say that." Without warning, Coach grabbed the radio from Nick and decided it was his turn to start screaming.

"Boy, I am covered in zombie blood and puke and eyeballs and twenty other parts I don't even recognize. We are immune as SHIT!"

"Are you equipped for carriers," one of the military voices asked the other. After a few more moments of chatter the voice came back. "Alright bridge, everyone else as pulled out, your only chance is to get to the helicopter on the east end of the bridge. After ten minutes we're pulling out."

"Oh right, we're heading over there," Nick said, waving his hand dismissively. "ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FUCKING WATER!!"

"Man, just hit the damn button," Coach exclaimed. Ellis hit the button to lower the bridge, creating a lot of noise. Everyone's heart started pumping before the bridge crashed into place.

"AWE SHIT, RUN MAN RUN," Ellis shouted.

The four survivors sprinted forward, through cars, buses, trucks and every other vehicle known to man with zombies filling every bit of open road. Coach took point, blasting through zombies with his shotgun, roaring and screaming with brutal determination. Rochelle followed behind him, firing at nearby zombies with dual pistols. Ellis was behind Rochelle, hacking away at zombies with a machete. Nick took up the rear, shooting zombies that flooded behind them with a silenced submachine gun. There was no end to the zombies that seemed to spawn from nowhere, but the survivors kept pressing through, killing more and more zombies that came at them.

"God damn it why do so many fucking people drive," Nick screamed. Suddenly, a Smoker standing on a nearby truck shot its tongue out, wrapping it around Nick. "AGH, GOD DAMN IT!"

"Hold on," Coach shouted, moving to aid Nick.

"Guys," Rochelle called out fearfully, standing next to Ellis. Nick was being pulled up the side of the truck, up towards the Smoker.

"Damn son of a bitch," Nick shouted as he tried to fight off the pink muscle wrapped around him. Coach ran up, grabbing Nick's ankles, trying to pull him down. "OW, FUCK!! Coach you're gonna tear me in two god damn it!"

"You'd rather be zombie meat," Coach replied, straining to overpower the Smoker. The lanky zombie coughed and wheezed as it pulled back, trying to bring Nick up to him.

"Fuck this," Nick shouted as he raised up a magnum. The suit wearing survivor aimed the fired a round straight through the Smoker's skull. The zombie exploded, releasing a cloud of smoke and letting Nick drop on top of Coach.

"Agh, god damn it Nick!"

"Give me a minute alright," the survivor shouted back as he quickly rolled off of Coach.

"Hey ya'll, we could use some help," Ellis screamed, still slicing away at zombies.

"We gotta go help em," Coach shouted. "Let's move Nick!" Coach ran over towards Ellis and Rochelle.

"Yeah, sure, just give me a minute to catch my damn breath," Nick muttered as he got to his feet. With the loss of his assault rifle, Nick pulled out his silenced submachine gun. The survivors stood shoulder to shoulder, shooting, punching, and hacking away at zombies that seemed to be never ending. "We can't hold out like this forever!"

"Go, keep movin," Coach screamed, still firing his shotgun. Ellis ran first, followed by Rochelle and then Nick who stayed behind to give Coach some support. Eventually, the hefty man ran to follow the rest of his team.

"Chase this you zombie bastards," Nick screamed as he hurled a pipe bomb down the bridge. The bomb beeped and flashed, getting the attention of all the zombies to follow after it. The survivors ran down the bridge, hearing the explosion that killed most of the zombies.

"Keep movin," Coach shouted. Even though there weren't any zombies that didn't mean the survivors weren't in a rush.

"Awe hell man, this reminds me of this one time me and my buddy Keith-,"

"ELLIS!! I swear to GOD if you keep going with that story I'm going to throw you off this god damn bridge," Nick screamed with no patience.

"Alright, but there was a—TANK!!"

The four survivors looked at each other with confused looks. Suddenly, a car flew over their heads and smashed into more vehicles behind them. Nick and Ellis crouched behind a different car as the rampaging beast came running at them. Coach and Rochelle started firing at the beast as Ellis pulled out a grenade launcher. The Tank hit a nearby car, sending it in Coach and Rochelle's direction. Both survivors were fine, but Coach fell on his back a little too hard. Ellis popped up and blasted the Tank in the face with the grenade launcher, causing it to stumble and a giant chunk of it to be blown off. The Tank roared in anger as Ellis ducked down and began reloading his weapon. The Tank headed towards Ellis as Nick came out from behind the car and began firing at the monster, getting its attention.

"Come on ya big ugly son of a-," Suddenly, Nick's weapon clicked empty. "Awe, shit!" The Tank ran up to Nick, raising its arm above its body before it suddenly roared in pain. Coach ran up on the Tank's side, blasting at the monster with Rochelle. The combined gunfire successfully caused the Tank to keel over in pain. "Shit," Nick sighed out before he reloaded his weapon. "Thanks for the save."

"No problem, now let's get over that bridge," Coach shouted. The survivors continued down the bridge, encountering wave after wave of zombies. A nearby zombie dove forward and tackled Ellis to the ground. "SHIT!" Coach ran towards Ellis, shooting zombies in his way.

"Get off ya son of a bitch!" Ellis rolled the zombie off and began kicked back at the zombies that tried to kick him while he was down. Eventually the survivor got back to his knees. "Oh no. JOC—AH DAMN IT!"

"Hold on Ellis," Coach called out, aiming his shotgun carefully at the Jockey on Ellis' back. "Don't move your head!" Coach squeezed the trigger, releasing a blast from his shotgun and into the Jockey. The back humping zombie fell off of Ellis' back in a dead heap. Ellis fell on his hands and knees. "Come on, we ain't got time for this young'un!" Coach picked up Ellis by the shoulder and began firing at zombies again. Ellis pulled out a pistol then started firing and the two natives of Savannah ran to catch up with Nick and Rochelle.

"Don't make me come out there for you," Nick shouted over the zombies that he kept shooting into. "Seriously though, HURRY UP!!"

"We comin, keep your fuckin suit on Nick!"

"Spitter," Rochelle shouted as she fired up on a nearby diesel trailer. The zombie whined with pain before it fell down, acid pouring from its body.

"Shit, nice shot," Ellis exclaimed as he ran past Rochelle with a goofy smile.

"Keep goin," Coach shouted as he and Nick held the rear. Ellis and Rochelle continued on, climbing down from one part of the bridge and onto the back of another diesel. "Nick, go!"

"Like hell," Nick shouted. "You first fat boy!" Deciding against an argument, Coach turned and ran, following Ellis down onto the trailer. "It's been real guys!" Nick turned and ran after firing a few more rounds into the horde of zombies. Nick jumped off towards the trailer, rolling once he hit.

"There's the chopper," Rochelle called out.

"Get to the chopper," Coach ordered.

The chopper turned on, its blades were audible over the horde and gunfire. The flying vehicle was down off a nearby exit that was riddled with dead bodies. Ellis stood at the mouth of the exit, shooting into the few zombies that Rochelle and Coach weren't holding off for Nick. The conman was running as fast as he could, turning to fire a few rounds into the horde that was chasing him.

"Shit, run man, run!" Ellis fired into the distance, trying to help Nick pick off zombies.

"Get movin," Coach shouted to Rochelle once Nick ran past them. Ro looked reluctantly at Coach before running for Nick.

"Keep goin, I'll stay back fer Coach," Ellis told Nick. The conman stopped for a moment before looking down the exit, seeing something of value. Nick ran down the trail, leaving Ellis on his own. "Don't say thanks or nothin, just riskin my life here."

"Ellis," Rochelle called out, stopping next to him. "COACH!!" The hefty survivor turned and ran as zombies started coming at him. "Ellis, Molotov!"

"Shit, I must've lost mine when that zombie tackled me," Ellis shouted as he looked all over himself for the bottle.

"Where's Nick?!" Ellis looked down the trail, seeing Nick running without a second glance back.

"That son of a bitch is leavin us!" Rochelle turned around with a shocked expression, seeing Nick running away from them.

"No way…"

"Hey," Coach screamed. "I could use a hand here!" Ellis muttered under his breath before turning back to the horde. Rochelle gave an angered look and turned back as well, firing into the horde chasing Coach.

Nick stopped next to a military truck to catch his breath with no zombies chasing him. "Shit…" Nick looked back up the road and could only see flashes of gunfire.

"Get on board," the soldier shouted over some type of intercom. Nick ran around the military truck and punched open the window. "We're taking off, hurry!"

Coach and Ellis turned around to fire at the zombies behind them while Rochelle ran for the helicopter. If that weren't enough, zombies started coming out from the sides and in front of the survivors. Ro stopped and began firing into the horde that was forming in front of them.

"Awe shit, this ain't good," Ellis screamed.

"Just keep movin," Coach ordered, turning to help Rochelle fire into the zombies.

"I swear to god I'm gonna beat Nick down so badly!" Suddenly, Ro and Coach saw a giant truck rolling towards them.

"Oh shit, WATCH OUT!" Ro and Coach moved to the side as the truck ran over a ton of zombies. The truck would've gone further, but it smashed into a chunk of concrete. The door flew open and Nick got out, quickly running into the back.

"You didn't think I'd leave you all did ya," Nick asked mockingly, pulling a sheet off of a heavy machine gun in the back of the truck. The survivor grabbed the gun then started firing into the giant horde that Ellis was trying to fend off on his own. The mechanic turned around, seeing Nick was responsible for the assistance. "Hurry up overalls!"

"Ho-lee shit! Thanks Nick!" Ellis ran down the exit ramp, towards Coach and Rochelle. Coach had trouble getting to his feet, but was helped up by Ro and Ellis. "Come on man, ya gotta keep goin!"

"I'm up, I'm up," Coach shouted.

"You guys keep goin," Ellis ordered. "Nick, come on man!"

"Give me a minute," Nick screamed over the shout of the turret. "I'm enjoying myself!"

"LOOK OUT," Coach screamed. Nick looked to his right, seeing a giant boulder coming at him.

"OH FU-," Nick ran and dove out of the truck just as the massive boulder smashed the rear end of the vehicle. The suit wearing survivor hit with a painful thud, groaning with pain.

"Shit, come on man," Ellis said, trying to get Nick to his feet.

"Ellis, grenade launcher," Coach ordered. The mechanic looked up, seeing a Tank coming at them. Ellis removed his grenade launcher with one hand then tossed it to Coach. "It's gonna be rainin zombie pieces!" Coach fired a grenade, hitting the Tank square in the chest, blowing a massive chunk out of it.

"Shit man, come on," Ellis groaned, trying to keep the half conscious Nick up to his feet. Rochelle ran up, putting Nick's other arm around her shoulders and began moving for the helicopter.

"Keep movin," Coach shouted, throwing the grenade launcher forward as a blunt object. The firearm cracked a zombie in the skull, causing it to have a slight domino effect with the horde.

The survivors started moving towards the helipad and there were no zombies in front of them. Coach continued his one-man assault on the horde from behind while Rochelle and Ellis tried to keep Nick moving.

"Alright, I'm back," Nick said, shaking his head clear.

"You sure," Rochelle asked. Nick turned his head, seeing Coach fending off a sea of zombies on his own.

"HUNTER," Ellis screamed.

Nick's head spun back around, seeing the leaping zombie already flying through the air. Nick lifted himself up by his arms, still on Rochelle and Ellis' shoulders, then lifted his feet up, shooting them both forward. Nick's feet connected to the Hunter's face, knocking it to the ground with a painful thud.

"Scrawny little bitch I'm gonna kill," Nick corrected. Sure enough, the speed the Hunter was flying forward and the sudden stop to its face was enough to kill it. Nick removed his arms then pulled out his magnum, the only weapon he had left. "I'm going to go help Coach, you guys get to the chopper!" Ellis and Ro gave an unsure look to Nick. "GO!" The two survivors then headed to the helicopter. Nick ran forward to help Coach.

'_Damn it, I sure as hell wouldn't have done this for anyone a week ago!'_ Nick threw a right hook across a zombie's face, knocking it to the ground and then shooting it. The survivor continued towards Coach who was slowly making his way back. "Yo, tons of fun, we gotta go!"

"I'm taking off," the chopper pilot shouted.

"Shit," Coach screamed. Nick and Coach then turned around and made all efforts to get to the chopper as quickly as possible. One zombie jumped on Nick's back, trying to take him down. The conman screamed with defiance before he threw the zombie forward, cracking its head in the pavement. Coach made it to the chopper, just as it lifted off the ground gently. "Shit, FUCKING HAUL ASS NICK!" Nick turned his head, then made all haste towards the chopper.

"Come on man, move!"

"You can make it Nick!" The conman ran faster and faster, panting heavily, sweat pouring down his red face.

"You can do it Nick," Coach added. "Get your ass in gear!" Nick's legs and arms were growing weak, but he forced himself to go faster. The chopper was now a few good feet off the ground and started moving away from the helipad. "COME ON NICK!!"

'_I have not…'_ Nick got on the helipad, _'this far…'_ The chopper was still within reach, and his entire team was waving him on, _'to die…'_ The chopper was now floating towards the edge and Nick continued running faster and harder. The survivor jumped forward off the ledge and towards the chopper, "NOW!" Coach and Ellis threw their arms out, grabbing Nick by his wrists then pulled him up into the helicopter.

"Holy shit man," Ellis exclaimed. "That was close!"

"Shit, you okay Nick? That was cuttin it close," Coach pointed out. Nick panted heavily, letting the sweat pouring onto the metal floor.

"I'm sorry for thinkin you left us buddy," Ellis apologized.

"Looking back on it now," Nick said between breaths. "I wish I had…" Nick looked up with a smile on his face then began chuckling. The rest smiled back and started chuckling as well. Eventually the survivors all started laughing in disbelief that they had made it through hell.

**THE SURVIVORS HAVE ESCAPED!**

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So yeah, this is the beginning of Back 4 More: Southern Edition. The beginning is a finale? Jeez I'm insane. Anywho, just sort of a heads up, if anyone likes Kingdom Hearts then please read and review it on my profile. Darkness Rising, not that other one which hasn't been touched in forever.

Also, leave reviews for this too please! Thank you!


	2. Safe For Now

Coach- shotgun

Ellis- machete, pistol

Nick- N/A

Rochelle- dual pistols

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The helicopter ride was slow and quiet. The pilot refused to let the survivors come into the cockpit for fear that they were carriers. Nick sat the furthest away from the door, staring at the metal ceiling with one leg extended outward, and the other bent at the knee to rest his arm on. Ellis was somehow resting on the floor, curled up in a ball with his hat lying next to him and his hair was a greasy mess. Coach was lying on his back, trying to work his knee which was hurting him. Rochelle sat a little ways from Nick, looking around the helicopter even though there was nothing to look at. Nick sighed then reached into his suit pocket and pulled out an old, brown, beaten wallet. He unfolded it and looked at the pictures inside of it.

The first picture was of a young woman with light skin, light blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, shining lips that formed into a lovely smile. His older sister Kathy. Nick flipped to the next picture. It was a picture of Kathy with her two sons: Jamie and Edward. Jamie was the youngest, and was only a baby in this picture. Edward was technically Kathy's step son. He was the son of the guy who she later had Jamie with. They had the same dad, just different moms. Despite not being related by blood, Edward still had Kathy's color hair, but brown eyes. The next picture was the two kids, older, and with Nick. Ed still had the same light blonde hair, and Jamie had dark brown hair at that age. The last two pictures were of Nick wrestling with his nephews. The first picture showed him Nick having Edward in a headlock, and the second one was Jamie on Nick's back, the latter in a chokehold. Nick smiled a bit, having a sense of relief now that the zombie nightmare was over.

"Hey," Rochelle's voice whispered. Nick looked up, seeing the news reporter smiling at him before sitting next to him. "Looking at pictures?"

"Yeah, they're of my family."

"Oh, I've never seen em." Nick handed the wallet to Rochelle. "These are your nephews you told Coach about?" Nick nodded once, recalling the events in Whispering Oaks amusement park. (A/N: see story Family First on my profile). "Looks like a happy family you got Nick."

"Thanks," the conman replied, taking the wallet back before he put it in his pocket. "I'm hoping to see them again."

"Where'd they live at," Rochelle asked.

"They lived up in southern Pennsylvania." Rochelle's eyes widened with shock. "Don't worry, I'm sure Kathy would've pulled those kids out as soon as she heard there was something wrong. She's way too overprotective."

"You sure they'd be okay?"

"Without a doubt," Nick replied dismissively. "Kathy is paranoid as shit."

"Sounds like you've got someone to go back to," Rochelle stated with a smile.

"Yeah…what about you?"

"Me," Rochelle repeated. She shrugged, "Most of my family moved from California to be closer to my grandparents. They live in Nevada."

"They're safe them. You got people too. What about you Coach?"

"Me," Coach let out with a groan. "I ain't got a lot of family left. The ones that I do have live around the North West part of the country. Agh, damn it!" Coach let his leg drop to the ground. "I swear this physical therapy ain't helped me for shit!"

"Running from zombies sure does the trick," Nick joked with a smile on his face.

"What about Ellis," Rochelle asked suddenly. "Most of his family has to live south right? That means he doesn't have anyone left…"

"Shit, that boy is too optimistic to be dwellin on shit he can't do nothin about. You should know that by now Ro." The news reporter nodded once with an unsure look at the slumbering redneck. "So what're ya'll gonna do now that this is over and done with?"

"I'm takin you to McDonalds Coach," Nick replied, his smile growing wider. Coach chuckled amusingly and Rochelle let out a few stifled laughs. "And then I'm putting you on the Jenny Craig diet!" Coach let out a loud, hearty laugh, slapping the bottom of the helicopter as his whole body shoot with laughter.

"Damn, that's the funniest damn thing you've ever said," Coach said between laughs. The sounds of Coach laughing woke Ellis up who groaned from his sleep.

"Can't a guy get a decent nap," Ellis asked.

"I don't know how you can sleep honey," Rochelle admitted. "The floor is cold and the sound of the damn engine is too loud for me."

"Awe shit, I doze off all the time whenever engines are runnin. This one time, me and my buddy Keith were workin in the shop, the shop bein where we fix cars and shit, and Keith sleeps like a log. Anyway, we had a huge stack of tires against the wall, and Keith decides he wants to sleep on a stack of oil drums. Well my buddy Dave was backin up this one guy's truck and accidently bumps into one of the stacks of tires. Like a dozen towers of tires fall on Keith and burry him. Now tires are real heavy and shit and it takes us almost two hours to get to Keith and the bastard is still sound asleep. Well we took him to the doctor and he said Keith was in a coma, not sleepin."

"I've been meaning to ask, but how the hell is that Keith guy still alive," Nick asked.

"Say what?" The rest of the team waited for Ellis to continue. "Sorry, I'm just use to ya'll interruptin my stories and shit. I actually don't know how Keith still ain't dead after everything he's been through. Doctors keep tellin us it's a miracle he's alive and functionin."

"I'll say," Coach agreed. "That boy's got more problems than you Ellis."

"I'll say," Ellis murmured. "Hey where are we headin to again?"

"Dunno, that DAMN PILOT won't tell us anything!"

"Yo Nick, stop that shit," Coach barked. "This man did us a favor by stayin so long for us."

"Yeah, and the bastard almost took off without me. I don't owe him shit."

"Hey guys let's not worry about this right now kay," Rochelle cooed. "I don't think we need any type of fighting right now."

"Yeah…you're right…"

"So what's everyone gonna do once we get back to civilization," Ellis asked, leaning forward like a child. "I guess I'm gonna have to job hunt somewhere to be a mechanic…"

"Shit, I'm gonna have to find a job too, and a new place to live," Coach stated. "Hopefully I can live with one of my family members for awhile."

"Okay, well aside from the job thing what's everyone going to do," Rochelle restated.

"Shit, I guess I'm gonna hafta find me a place to live," Ellis muttered. "And I'm gonna have to get use to city life!"

"Shit kid, there aren't that many people out west," Coach replied. "There are more people on the east coast than the country. First thing I'm gonna do is find my family and have a BIG ol' dinner!"

"First thing I'm gonna do is decide where to live," Rochelle admitted. "I've got a lot of savings I'm willing to spend now on a nice studio apartment."

"What about you Nick," Coach asked. "It'd be a shame if you went back to your life of crime after all we've been through." Nick scoffed then looked to his team with a smile.

"Trust me I am DONE with crime. First thing I'm going to do is find my family and stick close to em."

"What about a job man," Ellis asked. "Everyone needs a job."

"Hey, just because I'm a con doesn't mean I don't have savings like Rochelle and the rest of you. I've got enough money to get me a nice place. I might get a part time job as like a banker or some shit."

"You, a banker," Coach asked shortly before laughing loudly.

"What the hell's so funny?"

"Nick," Ellis began, letting out a chuckle or two, "I think what Coach means is that a bank won't hire you if there's a chance you've robbed one before." Coach's laughter grew louder and now the large man was on his back, holding his sides. "Also bank people are usually nice and they smile real big like when they see a customer, ask how their day is and stuff. You're more of the type of person to cuss someone out because they said hello to ya."

"Oh you're a riot Ellis," Nick muttered, trying to fight the smirk on his face from watching Coach laughing.

"Whoo, that was a good one Ellis," Coach admitted with a grin on his face. "But I also think that the people who had you money would want it in their account Nick, not in your pocket."

"Hey, I said I was giving up crime alright," Nick snapped definitively. "I was just giving a banker as an example."

"Ah we're just fucking with ya man," Coach replied humorously. "That's great that you're gonna give up that criminal habit of yours for your family."

"Yeah, well who would've thought that it would take a zombie apocalypse to make me realize how important family is." Coach opened his mouth to speak when suddenly the survivors felt the chopper descending. "What the—what gives?!"

"Hey," Coach shouted, getting to his feet and walking over to the door. "What the hell are ya doin? Why are we headin down?!"

"We need to refuel," the pilot stated over the radio. "There's a military fueling outpost that we're landing at. I'm going to need you four to get out and start fueling it up."

"You gotta be fucking kidding me," Nick screamed. "Why didn't you refuel in New Oreans?!"

"With what," the pilot shot back. "Helicopters don't run on water."

"He's right ya know," Ellis piped up. "This one time me and my buddy Keith-,"

"Ellis, sweetie, can this wait," Rochelle asked, placing a hand on the mechanic's shoulder.

"This is bullshit," Nick shouted again. "You'd better give us a damn gun or something!"

"Nick," Coach piped up. "_WE_ got guns."

"I want a gun damn it," Nick pouted. The chopper lowered closer to the ground before gently landing.

"Alright, you all can get out and start fueling the chopper up," the pilot ordered. "And hurry it up." The boarding ramp lowered to the ground, revealing that the survivors were now in the middle of a heavy forest.

"Alright, Ellis and Rochelle, you two stay in the chopper just in case we need to make a quick escape," Coach ordered. "Nick and I are goin out to fill this damn thing up."

"Here ya go Nick," Ellis said, offering his pistol. Nick nodded and took the firearm and followed Coach towards the abandoned military base.

"Damn military asshole," Nick muttered as he and Coach approached the gas pump. Coach pulled up the nozzle and opened the gas tank for the helicopter. Nick scanned the area, seeing no nearby zombies as he heard the pump starting. Luckily it wasn't too noisy over the sound of the muffled helicopter blades. "How long does it take for a chopper to get fueled up usually?"

"Dunno," Coach replied with a shrug. "Not soon enough is all I gotta say…"

"Amen to that," Nick mumbled, staring around in the forest. "Shit, its cold out." Coach looked around, just noticing the icy bite of the blowing wind.

"SHIT," the pilot's voice boomed over the chopper's speakers. Nick and Coach turned around, seeing the helicopter lifting off.

"WHAT THE FUCK," Nick shouted. Suddenly, a Hunter came flying out of the trees, landing on the front of the chopper. Nick and Coach looked into the forest, seeing a horde of zombies coming towards them. "SHIT!! Not this again!"

"I ain't gonna die after all this," Coach screamed as he pulled out his shotgun. The helicopter pulled the gas pump out of the ground, still going up into the air. Gas started shooting into the air like a geyser. "Eeeeeugh, god damn it!"

"Coach, get back," Nick shouted as he raised an arm to shield himself from the showering gas. Coach quickly ran back, not firing at the zombies for fear of blowing himself and Nick up. The conman followed Coach, turning around once to see the horde of zombies coming at them. "Take this you zombie bastards!" Nick fired a pistol round at the base of the gas geyser. The gas went up in flames in an instant before exploding. The blast shook the ground, and threw Coach and Nick back on the ground with a painful thud.

"God DAMN IT Nick!"

"Hey, did you have a better idea," the conman asked, groaning as he struggled to push himself up. Coach and Nick turned around, seeing the helicopter spinning out of control and heading down into the forest. "Shit! Ellis and Rochelle are on that damn thing!"

"Get a hold of her damn it," Coach screamed fustily at the pilot. The helicopter went down and hit with a loud crash. "God damn it all!"

"That fucking idiot," Nick shouted. "Couldn't fill up before we took off, had to do it AFTER picking up civilians! Stupid ass hole!"

"Come on Nick, we gotta find Ellis and Ro," Coach barked.

"Are you fucking kidding?! That helicopter CRASHED in the forest! Even if they survived the crash the whole forest has got to be filled with infected!"

"Right, and that explosion probably got their attention, so if you wanna stay here and say hello then be my guest. I'm goin in that damn forest, whether its filled with infected, bears, or infected bears, and I'm gonna get Rochelle and Ellis and if I have to, I'll drag them out of this forest. You hear me!?" Coach then turned and started walking towards where he saw the helicopter crash.

"Ah shit," Nick sighed out. "I guess I can't leave a helpless old man on his own in a forest can I?"

"Who you callin old," Coach asked, an amused smirk on his face.

"Hey, I'm just fucking with ya. If there are any bears out here though, you're wrestling with them got it?" Coach chuckled with amusement as he and Nick entered the forest. "What do you think is gonna be waiting for us in here…?"

"Hell if I know," Coach admitted. "Nothing we haven't faced before though."

"Let's hope not. If there is, I'm gonna beat you with a stick."

* * *

Sorry that this chapter seems so short, but it seemed like a good place to stop right? The next chapter will have Coach and Nick running through a forest together to see if Rochelle and Ellis survived the chopper crash. Did they, or did they die!? OH NO!! only time will tell…hehehe…

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	3. The Forest

Coach- shotgun

Nick- pistol

--

"Agh, damn it Coach, do you have like a fucking machete or something?!" Nick was furiously swatting at tree branches that constantly kept getting in his face. "This forest is thicker than Boomer shit!"

"Ah, quit yo bitchin Nick," Coach replied, not enjoying the branches any more than Nick, but the latter's complaining wasn't helping anything.

"Shit, how can the zombies stand this shit!? It's aggravating!"

"Nick, seriously, stop bitchin!" The conman crossed his arms and huffed, shortly after using his hands once again to push the tree branches out of his face.

"How come there aren't as many zombies," Nick finally asked. Coach looked around, realizing that Nick was right.

"Maybe they all went chasin after that explosion you caused?"

"That's one thought…" Suddenly, an outcry of a zombie was heard, causing Nick and Coach to whip their heads around. A Charger came stampeding through the forest and was coming straight for them. "SHIT!" Nick ran to one side while Coach ran to the other. The Charger slammed into a massive tree, almost knocking the whole thing over and causing itself to stumble back. "Shoot it, shoot it!" Coach began unloading shotgun shells into the Charger's back, killing it in no time.

"Damn, I hate them Chargers!"

"I second that," Nick muttered, rubbing his shoulder as he walked past the corpse. For some reason, Nick had the worst luck with Chargers. It's like they came out of nowhere half the time and just bowled him over and started pounding him into the ground. "Do we even know where we're heading to?"

"Towards the chopper Nick," Coach replied, his patience wearing thin.

"Yeah, but which way is that?" Coach remained silent, looking around before he realized that the only thing he could see were trees and the sky just directly above him. "See what I mean?"

"Shut the fuck up Nick, we're going to go find them!"

"I didn't say we weren't, I'd just like to know where the fuck we're going!" Coach just sighed, fighting the urge to argue with Nick. The conman also decided it was best to just stay silent, and hope that Coach knew what he was doing.

The duo moved through the forest, encountering hardly any zombies with the exception of the few stragglers that came rushing at them out of nowhere. It felt like they had been walking for miles and had no trace of where the helicopter crashed. And on top of that: their guns were low on ammo.

"Nick," Coach finally spoke up. "If we die out here, make sure that I'm in a dignified position got it?"

"Yeah, sure," Nick replied, not in the mood for joking.

"Hey, lighten up a bit. We ain't dead yet."

"We might as well be…" Coach rolled his eyes then looked forward, seeing something past the trees.

"Hey, what's that?" Nick looked forward, not really caring, but his view was changed when he saw a log cabin in the middle of a forest. "Shit, maybe they got supplies, or guns!" Coach broke out into a mild jog and Nick quickly followed after him. The forest was completely clear a little ways before they got to the cabin, and there were lights still on. "Shit, is that a good sign?"

"A cabin in the middle of nowhere, never a good sign, but at this point we can just shoot anyone we want and take their shit."

Coach shot a glare at Nick, who ignored it. They stood on either side of the front door which remained closed. Nick knocked gently, and a split second later a massive hole was blown in the door.

"Stay away you demons," a voice called out. "God is punishing the world for their sins and I'm not letting you all pollute me!" Nick and Coach turned to each other, giving each other the same confused look. "I know you're out there you monsters! You won't get me! Stay away!"

"We ain't them zombies," Coach called out. Another chunk of the door was blasted away, causing the heavyset man to jump back a bit. "God damn it quit shootin at us!"

"You'll bring those monsters with you, you'll bring them to me! I won't let them take me!" Nick signaled, making a hand gesture to the other side of the house. Coach shook his head, mouthing 'let me talk to him.' Nick rolled his eyes then casually leaned back, crossing his arms.

"Listen, we're not infected and we're not bringin them zombies to ya. I know you're scared, but we can help you!"

"Liars!" The last chunk of door was blown away. Nick looked at his wrist, sighing intentionally. Coach glared at Nick then threw his arm outward, telling Nick to go. The conman nodded then quietly moved around the house. "I'm not going to become one of you! God will bless me if I protect myself!"

"Man, haven't you ever heard of 'love thy neighbor?!' Where the fuck does it talk about shooting them!?"

"You're not my neighbor, and you're not human! I'm not going to let you in!" Nick was now at the back of the house, peeking through a window. Inside was a crazed old man with a scraggily beard, clutching a shotgun with a ton of other weapons inside. Nick mouthed 'fuck,' before ducking back in cover. "I can't leave, if I go outside then I'll become just like you!"

"You idiot, your shoutin and shootin is attracting those zombies not me!"

"Stay away," the man shouted, blasting a chunk out of the wall opposite of Coach. Nick took a deep breath, before throwing his shoulder into the back door, causing it to fly open. "DEMONS!!" the man shouted as he spun around, shooting at Nick. "YOU DARE TO BRING HELL INTO MY HOME?!" Nick dove forward, rolling behind a thin wall into the man's kitchen. "You think I won't kill you?! I killed my wife and my two sons because God demanded me to! I'll shoot you without a second thought!" The man fired a round from his shotgun into the wall. Nick was lying on the floor and flinched as the shot rang out, and parts of the wall rained down on him.

"Hey, over here," Coach called out. The crazed man spun around, seeing Coach run into his home and run into a hall.

"You damned demons!" The man spun around, blasting a hole in his wall. Coach stopped in the hall as a large chunk of it came flying out in front of him. "I'll kill you all!" Nick ran up out of his cover, just as the man spun back around. The conman quickly jerked back into cover as the man blasted a hole in his floor. "You won't get me! I swear you won't get me!" The man walked up to Nick's cover, cocking his shotgun.

"Damn it Coach, shoot him," Nick shouted.

Coach aimed his gun through the hole in the wall, shooting just above the crazed man's head. Bits of ceiling rained down on the man, causing him to stop for a moment. He spun around and started firing round after round into the wall. Coach hit the ground, lying flat on his stomach, covering his head. Nick came out of cover whenever he heard the gun click empty, and tackled the crazed man to the floor. Nick started wailing on the man's head, but he protected it with his arms pushed together. The crazed man grabbed Nick's arm, then bit down hard on his wrist.

"AGH DAMN IT!" Nick brought his right hand, holding the pistol, down on the side of the man's head. The crazed man screamed in pain, releasing his teeth from Nick's wrist. The conman grabbed the crazy guy's throat and started choking him and pressed the barrel of the pistol against the man's forehead. "You're more of a fucking zombie then the rest of us you crazy fucker!"

"Nick," Coach called out. "Let him go man!"

"Fuck that, this crazy ass bastard killed his family," Nick shouted, pushing the pistol harder against the man's forehead. "I should blow his brains out right now!"

"Nick," Coach snapped, his tone harder now. "Let it go man!"

"If I let this bastard go right now he's gonna try to gnaw us to death!" Nick stared at the crazy man's eyes then looked up to Coach. "Hurry up and grab some fucking guns." Coach nodded then ran to the gun rack the old man had in his home. Coach grabbed a hunting rifle, a shotgun, and a magnum.

"Come on Nick," Coach called out. Nick got to his feet and backed away slowly with his pistol still aimed at the old man, who also got to his feet. Coach turned around, looking at the front door and seeing something silhouetted standing there. "BOOMER!!" Nick looked past the old man, who spun around with terror on his face. The fat zombie hurled its bile on the crazed man.

"AGH!! You brought them to my home! You tainted my sacred home!"

"Shut the fuck up idiot," Nick shouted, firing a round into the Boomer, causing it to explode, covering most of the inside of the man's home. The three survivors heard the sound of a horde crying out. "We need a quick way to get out of here!"

"There's a pickup truck out here," Coach called out. "Hurry up!" Nick quickly ran out of the guy's house and towards the blue truck. "Come on man!"

"Stay away," the man shouted, picking up his shotgun and aiming it at Coach. "They followed you here, they'll follow you away!"

"Coach, don't waste your time," Nick screamed, seeing a horde of zombies flooding out of the forest.

Coach quickly turned around and ran as quickly as he could towards the truck. Nick opened the driver's door and luckily the keys were still inside. He started the engine and slammed his door shut. Coach threw the guns hastily in the back then got in the passenger's side. Nick floored on the gas as Coach slammed his door, and the two survivors flew down a dirt trail, while a horde of zombies flooded into the crazy man's home.

"You demons! Stay away!" The man blasted through the walls, windows, and the doors at the zombies. "I'll kill you all!" The crazed man continued blasting into the horde of zombies, walking himself into a corner and crouched down as he reloaded his shotgun. At this point, entire walls were knocked over from the zombies trying to get to the bile covered man. "You demons can't kill me! God won't let me die at your hands! He won't let me!" The man fired round after round into the horde of zombies which rushed at him. It wasn't enough and the man eventually was overwhelmed by the sea of zombies, being torn apart and eaten alive.

Down on the dirt trail, Nick had the pedal to the metal the whole time, following the dirt trail without any thought of where they exactly were heading. "Damn it," Coach shouted, smacking the dashboard. "Damn it!"

"Something buggin ya," Nick asked.

"We just let someone die," Coach screamed. "That doesn't bother you? Was all that shit about giving up your criminal life a bunch of shit or what?!"

"I meant what I said on that damn chopper Coach," Nick snapped. "He killed his family, and he was totally crazy! There wasn't anything we could've done to help him. He tried to kill us, and if we even dragged him out, he would've jumped out of the truck by now because he thinks _we're_ the sick ones!" Coach was quiet. He knew Nick was right, but he wanted to feel guilty or bad about their decision, but he wasn't. "There wasn't anything we could've done about that guy Coach. It had to happen." Coach sighed heavily, leaning back in his seat and then nodded. "You see anything, like smoke or something from the crash?" Coach looked out his window and started looking around desperately.

"Nothin…maybe they tried heading out on their own? Maybe we'll find them out here somewhere!"

"Maybe," Nick agreed. "Not much we can do now expect try and find the crash, or a way out of the damn forest." Coach turned his head to Nick to say something, but then saw the crashed helicopter.

"Nick, STOP!" The conman hit the breaks, and the truck slid to a halt. Coach hastily got out then ran around the truck, heading to the crash sight. Nick looked to his left, seeing the smoking and flaming chopper.

"Oh shit, please be there…"

Coach got to the crashed chopper, making his way through pieces of shrapnel and fire, heading towards the wrecked vehicle. "Ellis, Ro! Tell me you guys are there!" Coach continued forward after there was no response, coughing from the smoke. "Ellis, you there?! Ro, answer me!"

"Coach," a heavy accented voice shouted. "Over here!" Coach quickly ran towards the back of the chopper, finding Ellis sitting next to an unconscious Rochelle lying on her back. "Coach, holy shit!"

"Ellis, what happened?"

"I don't know," Ellis admitted. "The chopper suddenly started taking off whenever we were fueling up. Ro and I heard some glass breakin in the cockpit and some gunshots while we were goin through the air. Then we started headin back down to the ground and we crashed here. Rochelle was knocked out, and I don't know what's wrong with her. I had to fight off a few zombies that came on account of the crash, but other than that we're fine."

"How're you kid," Coach asked.

"I can walk," Ellis replied. Coach nodded then offered his hand to help Ellis up. The mechanic took Coach's hand and was hauled to his feet. The two Savannah natives lifted Rochelle up, putting one of her arms over their shoulders then running out of the crashed chopper. Coach moved back towards the dirt trail, towards the truck. "Awe shit, you guys got a truck? That reminds me of the time me and my buddy Keith found this one truck and we wanted to make it into a monster truck." Coach and Ellis got to the truck, and Nick got out, leaving the door open for them to get Rochelle in the back. "But we didn't have no monster truck tires, but we had a bunch of them big tractor tires so we figure what's the difference right?" Coach and Nick moved Rochelle into the back, lying her down on her back.

"Shit, how do we make sure she doesn't fall out," Nick asked.

"I guess buckle her up," Coach replied.

"So we put the tractor tires on the truck, and there's a reason tractors don't go that fast. Keith went as fast as the truck possible could, flipped it end over end _seventeen_ times."

"Ellis," Nick piped up before getting in the driver's side of the truck. "Is now the best time?"

"Shit, I guess not," the mechanic admitted. Coach buckled the last of the seatbelts around Rochelle, then got in.

"Alright, she's as snug as a bug," Coach replied.

"Uh, fellas, where do I sit," Ellis asked. Coach and Nick looked to one another with blank expressions.

Less than a minute later, the truck went flying down the dirt trail once again. In the back, Rochelle lied on her back unconscious, with the seatbelts awkwardly buckled around her. In the front, Nick sat in the driver's side, Ellis sat in the middle, and Coach was squished against the other side of the door.

"Agh, damn Nick, your pistol is pressin into ma hip," Ellis complained.

"Hey, I'm the driver," the conman snapped. "If anything you both need to give me more room!"

"I would, but Coach ain't moving his leg," Ellis whined.

"Hey, this is my bad leg," Coach replied. "Unless you want me screamin and hollerin all damn day, you'd better give my leg some room!"

"Why couldn't one of you just go in the back and watch the guns," Nick murmured.

"Because a Smoker or somethin could just snatch us out of the back and yank us out. Which reminds me of this one time me and my buddies Keith and Dave-,"

"Ellis," Coach and Nick snapped instantly. The mechanic was silent, staring ahead on the dirt trail.


	4. New Plans

Coach- shotgun

Ellis- N/A

Nick- pistol

Rochelle- incapacitated

--

The ride through the forest was silent. Ellis was a bit beaten from the helicopter crash, and Rochelle was completely unconscious in the back. Coach was still trying to feel sorry for himself for leaving that crazy old man to die in his house, and Nick was just focused on driving.

"Man, how much longer till we're outta this forest," Ellis asked, trying to stir up conversation.

"Not much longer hopefully," Nick replied quickly. Ellis looked down, moving his feet back and forth as much as he could.

"Uh…this one time me and ma buddy Keith-,"

"Ellis please," Coach muttered.

"Okay…" Ellis looked around the truck as if it was somehow new to him. The mechanic began patting his knees and whistling with boredom. Nick and Coach's eyes moved towards Ellis, who remained oblivious to their stares. "Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom badly." Nick and Coach groaned and shook their heads. "What, I do. Really badly too!"

"Alright, alright, Nick pull over." The conman sighed then brought the truck to a stop. Nick got out and held the door open for Ellis to get out and run to the side of the dirt road.

"Oh cool, Nick you seein this? There's like a bunch of holes in the ground, and some trees knocked down!" The conman turned his head with his arms crossed and examined the forest carefully.

"Well that could mean one of two things: either the military bombed this area or a Tank went ape-shit."

"Oh…that's not good," Ellis stated. Nick nodded once, widening his eyes insinuatingly. "I'll hurry up." The mechanic turned his back to Nick then a zipping noise was heard. Nick turned away, looking back in the truck and seeing Coach with a distant look.

"Hey," Nick spoke up. "Stop beating yourself up about that crazy guy okay? Just be happy you stopped me from giving him a hole in his head."

"Yeah, but what about Rochelle," Coach snapped.

"That's not even remotely your fault," Nick replied with exasperation. "It's all that stupid pilot. Seriously Coach, stop acting like this. It's weird."

"Alright," Coach sighed out. "Although it's hard not to be down whenever you don't know what you're gonna do next…" Nick was silent to that. Coach was right. Before their first and only priority was to get to New Orleans, and they did. Now that they thought about it: there was no place left for them to go. "Damn, how long can that boy take a piss?" Nick turned his head, seeing Ellis still with his back turned.

"Hey Overalls," Nick snapped. "Did you drink a gallon of water or something?"

"Hey man, I haven't pissed in like a day and a half," Ellis replied. "I got a plan anyway." Ellis shook the last few drops out before zipping back up and turning around. "Well we were all plannin on headin out west anyway, so why don't we just head that way ourselves instead of relyin on the military?" Nick and Coach's faces lit up as they turned to one another, then snapped their heads back to Ellis.

"Now _THAT_ is using your head Ellis," Nick exclaimed.

"I hear that," Coach added. "The military ain't helped us fer shit! They shot non-infected people, bombed us, and they _still_ didn't rescue us!"

"So we're headin out west," Ellis asked.

"Hell yeah," Nick shouted. "Get in kid!" Ellis smiled widely then got into the truck, followed by Nick who slammed the door. The truck tires threw rocks and dirt back before flying down the dirt trail.

Even though hopes and thoughts were renewed, the ride was silent for a few moments through the forest. After awhile however, the survivors got to a city that was not a sight for sore eyes. It looked like the world was finally ending in this city: chunks of buildings rained down in the street, fires were all over the city, chunks of the roads were blown apart, and a few buildings were completely collapsed, either on the road or into each other.

"Holy shit," Ellis muttered quietly.

"What the hell happened here," Coach exclaimed.

"I dunno," Nick replied, looking out of his window. "But we got COMPANY!!" Ellis and Coach turned their heads, seeing a flood of zombies running at them. Nick floored the gas down, sending the truck flying down street.

"Shit man, I ain't got a gun," Ellis stated.

"A gun ain't gonna do us any good if we can't get away from those things," Coach shouted. "Nick, you gotta get us somewhere safe!"

"Fuck that, I'd have to be miles ahead of these guys to get Rochelle out!"

"Ellis, help me start unbucklin Ro!" The two Savannah natives turned around and began fumbling with the belt buckles.

"SHIT!!" Nick turned sharply to the left around a corner as a chunk of skyscraper fell in front of the truck. Coach's rear end was thrown into Ellis' whose rear was thrown into Nick's face. "AGH!! Get your ass out of my face you idiot!"

"Hey, if you could keep this truck straight then—WHOA!!" Nick swerved the truck to the right before straightening it out. This got Ellis' rear out of Nick's face. "Alright, okay."

"Ellis, hurry up," Coach snapped, getting one belt buckle off.

"I'm hurryin," Ellis replied frantically, once again fumbling with the belt buckle. "But this one is awfully close to her 'area' Coach." The large man roared in rage, knocking Ellis down a bit.

"Then get them from around her ankles!" Ellis quickly fumbled with the buckle, getting it undone in a few short moments. Coach got the belt buckle around her waist off, and they both lifted her up. "Alright Nick, find a place for us to hide out at!"

"Sure, let me just pull over and ask directions!" Nick started looking around the streets just as Ellis sat down and helped.

"Over there man," Ellis shouted, pointing to the side of the road. Nick looked over, seeing a gun store.

"A gun store, yeah that's original!"

"Just pull over Nick," Coach boomed. Nick swerved towards the gun store quickly. The vehicle screeched to a halt and Nick quickly got out, running towards the back of the truck for the extra weapons. He grabbed the magnum and the hunting rifle, tossing the latter to Ellis just as he got out, "Catch!" Ellis quickly snatched the gun out of the air then turned back to Coach. The heavyset man got out, having Rochelle over his shoulders firefighter style. "Get in the store Coach!"

"But what about-,"

"Just go man," Ellis shouted, firing into the horde of zombies that started coming out.

Coach ran towards the store with one arm keeping Rochelle on his shoulders and the other griping his shotgun. Coach kicked the door open, waving his gun around to make sure that no one else was inside. With the coast clear, Coach ran to the furthest corner of the room and gently put Rochelle down before running back outside. Nick and Ellis were firing at a distance towards the zombies which kept approaching more and more no matter how much the survivors shot. Coach stood next to Nick and started firing rapidly with his shotgun, taking out handfuls of zombies.

"Get movin," Coach shouted to Ellis and Nick.

The other two didn't have ideal weapons, one was long range and the other would hardly put a dent in the numbers of zombies. Ellis went first, firing two rounds through a line of zombies before running for the gun store. Nick fired his magnum until it clicked empty and then he dropped it and ran for the store. Ellis was a few feet away from the door when a loud shouting was heard and a tight, slimy rope wrapped around him.

"Smoker," Ellis screamed as he was pulled to the side.

"Damn it," Nick shouted, pulling out his pistol and running towards Ellis. The conman fired at the Smoker, the first few shots missing or hitting the vehicle the zombie stood on, but the last managed to hit. The Smoker exploded in a puff of smoke. Ellis hit the pavement and tried to throw the tongue off around himself. "Damn it man, get up!" Nick knelt down next to Ellis and tried to get him to his feet.

"I'm up, I'm up," Ellis snapped.

"Hurry up," Coach's voice called out. The two survivors turned to the source of the voice, seeing Coach being forced towards the door, being overwhelmed by zombies.

"Shit," Ellis muttered.

"We can't get through that," Nick shouted towards Coach. "We're heading across the street!"

Coach stood in the doorway, still firing at the zombies. Nick wasn't sure if he heard him, and so he fired towards a few zombies in his direction. Coach turned his head towards Nick, seeing him waving his hand, telling Coach to shut the door.

"God damn it," Coach snapped, shoving a few zombies back before slamming the door shut. The zombies now had their sights set on Ellis and Nick.

"Awe shit, this ain't gonna be good…"

"MOVE!" Nick and Ellis hauled ass down the street with an enormous number of zombies coming at them.

"We can head into that store," Ellis shouted, pointing to the nearest building which turned out to be a safe house.

"Get the fucking door open then," Nick screamed, firing into the horde, taking out a couple of zombies. Ellis ran up to the door and threw his boot into it. The door rang out from the impact, but didn't budge.

"Shit," Ellis shrieked. The mechanic threw his shoulder into the door and started pushing. Ellis poured all of his strength into pushing the door, but still the heavy red metal door wouldn't budge. "Damn it, come on!" Ellis pounded his shoulder over and over into the door until Nick was standing a few feet from him.

"What the fuck is the holdup!?"

"The door won't open," Ellis shouted. Nick took one look at the door, rolled his eyes the pushed Ellis out of the way.

"Move!" Nick grabbed the door handle then pulled the door open.

"Awe come on man!"

"GET IN," Nick shouted, his face red with rage. Ellis quickly ran and dove into the safe house while Nick moved in, pulling the door in behind him. However, a few zombies moved into the doorway, trying to push the door back open. "GET OUT!" Nick started kicking a few zombies, but none budged.

"Hold on man," Ellis replied, crouching and lining up his sights to the zombies in the doorway.

One shot rang out, a bullet whizzing through three zombies. Nick managed to get the door closer to being shut, but a few zombies still tried to pull it open. Another shot rang out, killing two more zombies with one bullet. Nick almost had the door closed, before a zombie wedged its upper body between the door and the wall.

"You fucking asshole," Nick shouted, aiming his pistol with one hand.

"Don't do it," Ellis called out, running up to the zombie. "Open the door a bit!" Nick, despite wanting to ask, opened the door slightly as Ellis booted the zombie in the face out of the door. "CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT!!" Ellis grabbed the door and he and Nick slammed the door shut.

"Happy New Year," Nick shouted at the door before laughing triumphantly.

"Man, and they say I ain't right in the head," Ellis panted, lying on his back. Nick ran towards a boarded window, looking out into the dead, burning city. Ellis sat up and looked towards Nick. "Is Coach safe?"

"I think so," Nick replied. "If not, he's in a gun store so he should be as safe as a pig in mud."

"Man, mud don't make a pig safe Nick," Ellis protested, getting to his feet. "What does make a pig safe is metal. Like this one time, me and my buddy Keith decided it'd be cool to put two pigs in armor and have em fight each other. Well we didn't have no armor made for pigs, so we got some metal and started weldin them together and shit-,"

"Ellis, is now the best time?"

"Is now a bad time," Ellis replied.

"Well, you and I are trapped here together, and Coach is across the street filled with zombies with an unconscious Rochelle, and, oh yeah, there's a street filled with zombies between us and them. Right now isn't a great time."

"Okay."

Coach was looking through a boarded window, seeing zombies just stumbling around mindlessly. Coach tried to spot Ellis or Nick in the building down and across the street from them.

"Shit," Coach hissed. Suddenly, Rochelle groaned, causing Coach to turn around. "Ro, are you okay?" Coach walked up and knelt down next to her.

"What'd I miss," Rochelle asked.

"A whole lot," Coach replied. "All you gotta know now is that Ellis and Nick got separated from us. They're safe, but we gotta get back together with them."

"Where are we," Ro questioned, looking around the room.

"A gun store," Coach replied. "Are you okay girl?"

"My head hurts a bit."

"I'll try to find somethin to help," Coach said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder before getting to his feet. Coach walked around the store, looking through the drawers and cabinets in the immediate room.

"Coach, I got some pills," Rochelle's voice responded weakly. Coach looked over, seeing Ro holding up a small white bottle of pain pills.

"Alright, just don't OD," Coach cautioned. Rochelle popped a couple of pills and held the side of her head. "We'll wait for a second then think of a plan alright?" Rochelle nodded, slowly lowering herself to the floor. "You want to know what happened until then?" Rochelle nodded once. "Alright, this might take awhile…"

* * *

Sorry that this chapter was so short, but I seriously had to force this out of my mind, so I'm also sorry if it sucked in any way shape or form lol, but if it didn't suck I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you leave reviews please!


	5. Better Plans

Coach- combat shotgun

Ellis- hunting rifle

Nick- pistol

Rochelle- N/A

--

"Ellis, have you found anything useful yet," Nick called out, standing watch by the door.

"Nah man," Ellis replied. "What kind of bartender don't have no guns or even a blunt object?"

"What the fuck," Nick spat angrily. "Well can you make some Molotovs or something?"

"Not really," Ellis stood up, holding an empty bottle with a small layer of liquor at the bottom. "There ain't shit here man."

"This place fucking sucks!"

"Awe this ain't the worse bar I've been to," Ellis said, hopping over the countertop. "This one time me and Keith went to this one bar to ask directions, and we didn't bother readin the sign or anything like that right? Well we walk in, and there's half naked men walkin around and grindin on each other and everything." Nick cracked a smirk, stifling his laughter. "It ain't funny man, they came up to me and Keith and started…doin stuff to us." Nick threw his head back, howling with laughter. The conman hunched over a bit, smacking his knee. "Dude, I'm serious it ain't funny!"

"Not to you," Nick managed to choke out between laughs. "But for me it's fucking hilarious!" Suddenly there was a loud banging noise on the wall, causing Ellis and Nick to jump. There were more bashes and banging and the screaming of zombies.

"Maybe you should be more quiet," Ellis whispered.

"Alright," Nick hissed back.

In the gun store, Coach and Rochelle were going through the weapons, finding it hard to choose just one. "Guns, guns, guns," Coach stated aloud, picking up an auto-shotgun. "What to do with so many guns?"

"We probably should take everything and just have them somewhere in case we need them in the future," Rochelle answered.

"Yeah, but whose gonna be carryin the guns all day," Coach asked. "I ain't doin it unless I got something to carry them in."

"Well…first we should think of a way to get Nick and Ellis over here." Rochelle pulled up a magnum and checked the clip to make sure it was loaded. "Any plans?"

"Just one, but it involves opening that door and shootin a whole lot of zombies."

"We need a better plan…"

"Damn, what type of bar doesn't have a back door," Nick asked angrily. "Seriously, sometimes you need to throw some drunks outs, or beat some deadbeats."

"Man, I'm not gonna even ask," Ellis replied. "At least not right now, maybe whenever we get out of this."

"So I got a pistol with two clips left, and you've got a sniper rifle," Nick stated. "Do we have any plans?"

"Well I got one, but it involves openin that door and shootin a whole bunch of zombies." Nick sighed and shook his head.

"We need a better plan…"

"Oh, we could get up on the roof and run on the zombies' heads like ninjas or somethin," Ellis suggested.

"I don't think so kid…"

"Well…this one time me and ma buddy Keith-,"

"Ellis seriously," Nick asked, shaking his head angrily.

"Nah, just hear me out. It's actually a good plan."

"If you say so, let's hear it I guess…"

"Alright, well this one time we needed to get out of this house cuz Keith was foolin around with this one guy's daughter, so what we did…"

"Uh oh," Rochelle muttered.

"What," Coach asked. "What do you see?"

"I think Ellis is telling a Keith story. Yep, Nick looks like he's ready to shoot himself." Coach chuckled and shook his head, walking around the room a bit.

"Man, there's gotta be another door somewhere in this place."

"What about the roof," Rochelle asked, turning around to Coach. "Maybe we could at least signal Nick and Ellis right?"

"Maybe, but what good will it do if we can't get to em." Rochelle looked down and nodded once before turning back to the bar. The news reporter laughed a bit, covering her mouth. "What is it now," Coach asked, already chuckling.

"Nick looks so pissed off. You've gotta see this Coach." The heavyset walked up to the window and looked over, seeing Nick's lips pressed together in anger and his face turning red. Coach's laughter slipped out as he placed his massive, gloved hand over his mouth while Rochelle did the same.

"Oh damn that's funny," Coach's muffled voice exclaimed. "Look at him, he's about ready to scream!"

"If he does a whole lot of hungry zombies are gonna come running after him," Rochelle replied.

"So Keith and I figure we could probably use normal pipes for blow darts, ya know like them tribal hunters use. Problem is that he inhaled with his mouth against the end of the pipe, and it went down his throat and-,"

"Ellis, how does this help us now? We're in a bar with no weapons and our friends are in a gun store across the street, _AND_ we're surrounded by zombies!" Ellis placed his hand to his chin then looked into the air, humming quietly.

"I guess it doesn't help. I musta got off track." Nick rolled his eyes. _THAT_ was the understatement of the century. "So you haven't thought of any good plans while I was talkin did ya?"

"Nope," Nick replied, closing his eyes. "We might be screwed…"

"Hey wait a second…what's this?" Nick turned around, seeing Ellis crouching down. "Awe shit man, I think I found a way out Nick! Though I don't think you'll like it too much…"

"What is it," Nick asked, walking towards Ellis. "Awe, fuck no," Nick shouted, turning to walk away. "Fuck that, never again! I'm am NOT going there! That is the _last_ fucking place I'd be going!" Suddenly, a window smashed to pieces, causing Nick and Ellis to snap their heads to see a horde of zombies coming at them. "Fuck!" Nick turned back to Ellis who pointed down. "Fuck again!"

"Awe shit," Coach exclaimed. "They swarmin Nick and Ellis!" Rochelle walked up, staring out the window with a concerned look. "We gotta help em…" Rochelle nodded, and the two walked up to the door and nodded to each other. Coach threw the door open and started firing his shotgun.

A few zombies turned around and charged the survivors. Coach took a few steps out of the door, blasting through the main group of zombies in front. Rochelle stayed in the doorway, crouched and firing at the few zombies that were coming from either side of Coach, providing him cover. Coach shouted as he fired into the endless group of zombies. The gun clicked empty, and Coach looked at it with a certain fear in his eyes. He looked up, then swung his gun like a club, knocking back a group of zombies into other zombies, creating a slight domino effect. Coach crouched down and started to reload his weapon as Rochelle walked up and started mowing down zombies with her assault rifle as Coach reloaded. Over the gunfire, and the screaming of zombies, Coach heard something that stood out: the distinctive growl of a Hunter. He looked around, seeing a Hunter crawling from behind a car, eyes fixated on Rochelle. Coach got up suddenly, screaming as the Hunter leaped forward with an ear piercing screech. Coach threw his arm forward, close-lining the Hunter. The zombie came to a dead stop and the back of its head cracked on the ground. Coach lifted his leg up, then sent the bottom of his boot smashing through the Hunter's skull.

"Coach," Rochelle called out shrilly. The heavyset man turned around then ran up to Rochelle, loading the last of the round into his shotgun. "We can't do it Coach!"

"We can't leave Ellis and Nick all alone!"

"What the fuck do you mean all alone," Nick's voice asked angrily, stopping from a run next to Rochelle with an AK-47 in hand.

"What the," Coach asked, turning to see Ellis standing next to him with an auto shotgun in hand. The two survivors started gunning down the zombies while Rochelle and Coach stood around in shock.

"Get back in the gun store man," Ellis shouted. "Go, go, go!" Coach and Rochelle turned around then headed for the gun store with Ellis and Nick following behind them. The latter two closed the door and barricaded it with desks, and crates. "See, told ya it'd work."

"How did you two—oh my," Rochelle said, covering her nose.

"What," Coach asked. He sniffed a few times then groaned with disgust, waving his hand in front of his face. "Awe shit man! Where have you two been?!"

"The sewers," Nick replied, glaring at Ellis who only smiled. "I wouldn't have went, but those fucking zombies want me to smell like shit apparently."

"Awe man, it's just because you were screamin' and shit is why they came after us."

"Whatever, now I smell even worse," Nick complained. "I'd kill for a fucking shower…"

"As long as ya don't kill me," Ellis said, holding his hands up in caution. "I didn't make you jump in that manhole."

"Yeah, but someone was about to jump in your manhole when you and Keith went to that gay-bar," Nick replied, cracking a smirk of amusement.

"Hey man, you weren't supposed to go tellin everyone about that!"

"You did what," Coach asked, laughing as loudly as possible. Rochelle placed a hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking with laughter. Ellis blushed and looked away.

"God damn it Nick."

"Hey, you shot me once in that swamp," Nick accused, pointing at the mechanic. "Now we're even!"

"Man, gettin shot ain't nothin like havin these guys think you're fruity."

"We don't think that honey," Rochelle assured, still giggling. "But it's just funny. This is one story you've gotta tell us."

"God damn it…well this one time me and Keith-," The banging on the wall became louder and more ferocious. The survivors turned, seeing the zombies breaking through the boarded windows and pushing back the barricade in front of this door.

"This is gonna have to wait Ellis," Coach replied.

"Figures…"

"Everyone post up," Coach ordered. "We can't run, so we're gonna fight!"

"Now _that's_ a hell of a plan," Nick shouted.

The survivors started breaking the glass so that there was easier access to the guns. Coach and Nick stood behind the counter while Ellis was outside on one side and Rochelle was on the other. Each survivor had a weapon in their hands and side arms strapped to their legs, waiting for the zombies to inevitably break into the store.

"Awe damn, there's an awful lot of em," Ellis stated.

"Don't worry," Rochelle cooed. "We can do this…" The walls bent and creaked, threatening to give way under the wave of zombies.

"Here they come," Coach said, clutching his shotgun as he raised it up. "Get ready to FIGHT!" The zombies broke down the walls, flooding into the gun store and coming at the survivors.

"Bring it on you mealy mouthed bastards!"

* * *

So yeah, the next chapter will start off with lots of zombie blood and gore…or will it?! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUN!! Also, I've decided since most of these chapters so far are kind of short compared to the original Back 4 More, I'll probably just keep making the chapters for this story short lol

Also LEAVE REVIEWS!! Please and thank you!


	6. Steak and Shake

Coach- combat shotgun

Ellis- hunting rifle, automatic shotgun

Nick- pistol, AK-47

Rochelle- assault rifle

--

The back door to the gun store flew open as Ellis and Rochelle came rushing out desperately. Nick followed, waiting by the doorway as Coach ran past to fire at the horde rushing at them. After firing a few rounds, Nick turned and ran with the rest of his team. The survivors moved down an empty street, looking for any type of safe haven as the zombies came flooding after them.

"There, safe house," Rochelle shouted, pointing to a nearby building. The guys looked forward, seeing a red door that was their only hope.

"Go, go, go," Ellis screamed, turning to pump a few rounds into the horde. The others moved towards the red door, Rochelle heading in first, followed by Coach, and then Nick who waited in the doorway. Ellis turned and ran towards the safe house where Coach and Nick urged him on. "Move," Ellis shouted. The two quickly stepped to the side as Ellis dove into the safe house. Coach and Nick grabbed and pulled the door shut, slamming the bar down to lock it shut.

"Fuck yeah, that's how ya do it," Nick exclaimed.

"You okay Ellis," Rochelle asked, crouching next to the mechanic.

"Yeah, just a bit tired," Ellis replied.

"You did good out there people," Coach boasted, brimming with pride. "Made me real proud!"

"Well that's all that's kept us going Coach," Nick replied with a smug smirk on his face. "We strive to earn your acceptance dad."

"Yeah, keep talkin boy," Coach shot back, returning the taunting smile.

"Where are we at anyway," Ellis asked as he moved onto his rear end. The survivors looked around, unable to attain any knowledge from where they were. Nick and Coach walked further into the safe house and into the next room.

"AWE YEAH BABY," Coach's voice boomed. "We at a Steak and Shake!"

"Awe that's cool," Ellis shouted, getting up in a hurry.

"Please tell me they got some food left over baby!" Coach moved to the refrigerator, rubbing his hands together. He slowly reached for the handle, drawing suspense towards the event. Either there would be food galore, or rotten, smelling, expired food. He grabbed the handle, closing his eyes and praying for the best. "Moment of truth ya'll…" Coach pulled the door open and was hit with a rush of cool air. The heavyset man opened his eyes, seeing the entire fridge was stuffed with frozen meet. "HALLELUJAH! We got food!"

"Any of you all know how to cook greasy fast food," Nick asked.

"Are you complainin that we got food now Nick," Coach questioned. "Warm food in our stomachs instead of snacks and candy bars." Nick stared at Coach for a moment, both glaring intently at one another.

"Some fire up those god damn grills," Nick shouted, standing up suddenly. Coach smiled then turned back to the meat, grabbing packages and throwing them out on the counter. Ellis and Rochelle turned on the burners, letting them run as Nick started unwrapping the packages of meat. "But seriously, who knows how to cook this stuff?"

"We can figure it out Nick," Ellis replied with a friendly smile. "We've thought our way out of worse. Like that time Coach thought of using the Burger Tank sign!"

"Or when he thought of setting off the Midnight Riders' concert," Rochelle added.

"Or when he talked about throwing you off the roller coaster and running away while the zombies eat you Ellis," Nick said with a grin.

A look of horror came upon Ellis' face, "HUH!?" Coach and Nick started laughing uncontrollably, the latter slapping the counter. "Y-you're jokin right? You aren't thinkin of throwing me out to the zombies while you all run right?"

"Well not yet," Nick replied, stifling his laughter for a moment before he and Coach broke out again.

"Hey guys, stop picking on Ellis okay," Rochelle sniped.

"Alright _mom,_ we'll leave your boy alone." Coach wiped a tear from his eye while Nick still chuckled at his last remark. Nick picked up the nearest chunk of frozen meat then tossed it to Ellis. "Start frying em. I'm fucking starving."

"Don't they have to be de-thawed first," Ellis asked.

"How should I know? I've never flipped burgers."

"Right, you just stole money," Coach remarked, walking towards Ellis and the others. "I'll help ya boy, just don't do anything stupid."

Nick turned away, looking at their exit door and approached it. He sat down in a chair, leaning against the wall, deep in thought. For some reason, the thought of his sister and nephews popped into his mind, and the thought wasn't pleasant. For some reason he imagined his family having to fight off the hordes of zombies that he, Coach, Ellis, and Rochelle barely managed to survive each time they were overwhelmed. He tried shaking the idea out of his head, but still pictures of Jamie, Ed, and Kathy blasting their way through hordes of zombies flew up into his mind. Nick should know better: Kathy would've moved once she heard about some plague in the same state. Nick wouldn't have been surprised if she had to be talked out of moving to another country by her kids. Still, for some reason Ed and Jamie kept coming into his mind, fighting off hordes of zombies with a Tank showing up.

"Yo Nick," Ellis' voice shouted. Nick blinked quickly, coming out of his train of thought before turning to the mechanic. "What's wrong man? We've been calling for like a minute straight."

"Sorry, I was thinking," Nick replied. "What's the problem?"

"We're thinking of sleepin here tonight. Got any objections?"

"Would it even matter if I did," Nick questioned.

"Coach said if you had an objection that you're suppose ta 'shut your mouth, and take a damn nap.' Seriously, he told me to tell ya that."

"Alright Ellis, thanks for telling me." The mechanic nodded then went off back into the kitchen. Nick turned his head away, going back to his own thoughts.

"Is he okay," Coach asked. "Nick usually doesn't zone out like that."

"I know," Ellis agreed with a nod. "He seemed normal, but I'm thinkin somethins on his mind." Ellis and Coach both turned to Rochelle, who took a step back in confusion.

"Why're you both looking at me?"

"You're good with talking to him," Coach replied. "Go talk to him. Find out what's wrong."

"Why me? He might be fine and he'll focus on tomorrow."

"Alright, but if tomorrow he's still zonin, you're gonna talk to him," Coach warned. Rochelle nodded, then went back to focusing on the meat.

Nearly an hour later, the food was ready and the survivors all sat around the restaurant. Ellis sat on a stool in front of the counter, Rochelle sat on the counter, Coach was behind the counter, and Nick was sitting at the table closest to the counter. Ellis looked around at everyone. No one looked like they were going to start a conversation.

"So this one time," Ellis began. "Me and ma buddy Keith were gonna do this new thing called burnin CDs right? Well we didn't know shit about computers, so we thought people actually burned CDs, so we tried it. It went okay at first, but the fire was just boring, so Keith starts pourin some lighter fluid, and the jug slips out of his hand and then BOOM!" Ellis leaned back in his seat, his arms as far from his body as possible to reenact the event. "He and I go flyin, and Keith smacks into a tree and I land in the trailer of our truck. Keith had a concussion, and a shard of CD in his arm as well as some third degree burns. I just had a concussion too."

"Maybe that's what's wrong with you Ellis," Nick said jokingly, looking to Coach and Rochelle. Coach chuckled, shaking his head a bit while Rochelle shot Nick a look that told him to behave. "So did you actually find out what burning CDs meant?"

"Awe yeah, but we both agreed our way was funner," Ellis replied with a goofy smirk.

"Kid I've said it before, and I know I'll be sayin it again, but there's somethin wrong with you."

"Amen to that," Nick agreed, raising his cup of soda in the air before chugging it.

Suddenly, a loud booming sound caused the survivors to get up in alarm, all grabbing the nearest weapon. They stood in silence, eyes wide and ears open. Suddenly, the side wall of the building was broken apart, bricks and dust flying outward.

"Tank," Rochelle's voice called out, shortly after a chain of gunfire.

Ellis coughed, trying to look through the thick screen of dust in the air. All he heard was his team grunting between gunfire and the Tank screaming with anger. Ellis coughed, eyes squinted as he tried to find anything moving. Suddenly, a firm hand pressed down on Ellis' shoulder and pulled him back.

"Come on kid," Nick screamed. "Move, get outside now!"

"What, why," Ellis asked.

"The fucking building is about to fall in on itself!" This was more than enough to get Ellis moving to where Nick was pushing him to. Outside of the dust, Ellis saw Coach and Rochelle firing at the Tank, taking cover behind a car.

"Move," Coach shouted.

Nick gave Ellis one final, forceful push, causing the mechanic to slide over the hood of a car. The conman jumped up and slid across on his rear end across the hood, crouching behind the car. Coach and Rochelle ducked down behind their car and all four survivors heard the sound of hundreds of bricks falling downward and the Tank's brief roar of defiance. The survivors poked their heads up, seeing dust fluttering outward and a mountain of bricks piled up, and no sign of the Tank.

"Shit, that was alright," Nick muttered.

"Let's get movin," Coach ordered. "We gotta get out of this damned city!"

"Amen to that," Nick agreed, taking point and moving down the streets. "God damn it Coach, now you got me praying."

"That ain't a bad thing is it man," Ellis asked. "It's not like prayin ain't gonna hurt nothin is it?"

"He's right ya know," Rochelle replied.

"Alright, alright," Nick snapped. "Shit, I'll start praying more. I'll start right now. Dear god, please tell me one of these three has a new plan of how to get out of this town. No? Well shit, maybe I'm not praying hard enough. DEAR GOD!!"

"Hey man shut up," Ellis hissed.

"Man Nick, you gonna bring a shit ton of zombies down on us if you don't shut the fuck up," Coach snapped.

"Oh boo-hoo, we're still lacking a major plan."

"Alright, we'll find a map, just so you can shut your damn mouth," Coach replied. "Oh what's this, a gas station. They have maps for tourists and stuff right?"

"Coach, leave the sarcastic, 'being an ass' attitude to me," Nick said, walking past the heavyset man. "I'll go get the damn map." Nick put his AK-47 over his shoulder as he walked towards the building. He kicked the door open and shined his flashlight recklessly around until he found a map lying on the counter. "Oh look, a fucking map. Maybe it's of China, or Europe!" Nick grabbed the map and unfolded it, and surely enough it was of the United States. "Why am I talking to myself?" Suddenly, the sound of something gasping caused Nick to freeze with terror.

"Hey Coach, what's your favorite type of food," Ellis asked.

"Awe shit man, I love-,"

"WITCH," Nick shouted as he came barreling out of the gas station, stumbling a bit. A Witch was close behind him, shrieking with rage with its arms outstretched, and charging straight at Nick.

"God damn it Nick," Coach shouted, aiming his shotgun. "Move!" Nick would've replied, but was too busy fleeing for his life. Ellis and Coach both moved to either side of Nick and began unloading shotgun shells into the Witch. "God damn bitch, die already!" The Witch screamed and slowly fell to its knees, and then onto its face. Coach turned to Nick who collapsed on his hands and knees, breathing heavily from fatigue. "You get a map?" Nick held up the folded up piece of paper, giving no words as a response. "Alright," Coach boasted proudly, taking the paper from Nick's hand. "Good job Nick."

"N-no problem…"

"Although alerting that Witch was pretty fucking stupid." Coach unfolded the map as Nick simply glared at him. "Oh damn!"

"What is it," Rochelle asked, leaning over Coach's shoulder.

"That damn chopper pilot got us far yo," Coach exclaimed. "This map says we're in the northern half of Mississippi!"

"No way," Ellis shouted. "We weren't even in that chopper for that long were we? Just a couple of hours maybe."

"You two have clearly never flown in ANYTHING before," Nick muttered.

"It's not that surprising actually," Rochelle added. "So are we just heading straight west or what?"

"Well accordin to this map, they're still evacuating people in Tennessee," Coach said, narrowing his eyes to inspect the map. "If anything, we can get a little further north and check it out, but we can still hook it westward if we need to."

"Does it say were specifically in Tennessee," Ellis asked.

"Nah, it just says that the military is holdin out."

"Yeah, that's worked out splendidly for us so far," Nick stated. "Let's just hook it west. Fuck Tennessee."

"What's the worst that can happen," Ellis questioned. "We've already dealt with the worst this apocalypse has to offer. Remember right before we met Vergil, and we had to deal with TWO Tanks at once? That was crazy man."

"Yeah, well I don't want to try my luck with three," Nick shot back.

"Well, you can feel free to hook it west on your own Nick," Coach replied. "Cause if the military has a border set up somewhere and we just stroll on up, they might just shoot us on sight. I'd rather have the military, trained men using all types of different guns comin in to save us and pullin us out of this hell. Unless you've got a miracle of a plan that involves Jesus and Superman comin down from the sky to save us from these zombies, I'd rather not be shot on sight."

"Alright, I get it. Let's head to Tennessee…"

"You heard the man, let's move it!" Coach took point, moving down the road at an accelerated walk Ellis, Rochelle, and Nick following behind in that order. The survivors moved further into the flaming city with the hopes that they'd be safe soon.

* * *

Alright, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but to those who read the original Back 4 More, the beginning of this story takes place at the end of Back 4 More. Uh, that was a stupid explanation. The beginning of Back 4 More started around the beginning of Left 4 Dead 2, and the beginning of Back 4 More Southern Edition takes place at the end of Back 4 More. So yeah, just clarifying for anyone who is reading both stories, but anyway leave reviews, please and thank you!


	7. Holding up Traffic

Coach- combat shotgun

Ellis- hunting rifle, automatic shotgun

Nick- pistol, AK-47

Rochelle- assault rifle

The survivors moved quietly through the city, encountering only a few zombies which they picked off with ease. They finally made it to the edge of town, seeing nothing before them but cars upon cars that stretched over what was supposed to be open road and plains.

"Well shit," Nick snapped. "Anyone have a fucking monster truck or something?"

"Yeah right," Ellis replied. "Man if I had a monster truck I'd be killin so many Tanks. Speakin of monster trucks, have I told ya'll about the time me and ma buddy Keith tried to build a monster truck-,"

"And you tried to replace the wheels with tractor tires and the whole truck flipped fifteen times and Keith ended up in the hospital," Nick finished, as he followed Coach and Rochelle towards the cars.

"Awe man, I have told ya'll…shucks I think I might be runnin out of stories with me and Keith." The survivors were forced to walk on top of a few cars to get over them

"Thank god,' Nick muttered.

"Man I thought I had some kickers too," Ellis continued. "What about the time that me and Keith-," The shrieking sound of a Hunter caused Ellis to stop and yelp with fear as he side stepped the pouncing zombie. The Hunter smashed into the side of a car, leaving a dent before it scrambled away into hiding. "Holy shit, that thing came out of nowhere! Kind of reminds me of this time me and ma buddy Keith-,"

"Ellis, you almost got pounced. Is now the best time?"

"Okay," the mechanic replied casually. "But there was a goat…"

"Smoker," Coach shouted, before shots rang out. "Damn it, tall bastard went into hidin!"

"Alright, so we just move along carefully," Nick stated. "No big deal right?" Suddenly, a thick, slimy liquid covered the conman from head to toe. "AGH, GOD DAMN IT!"

"Boomer," Ellis shouted.

"A little late for that," Nick screamed as he spun around, slamming his gun into the zombies face. The fat zombie stumbled back and was shot by Rochelle. "Where are they coming from?!"

"Shit, they comin from the city," Coach exclaimed. "Everyone move!"

Ellis grabbed Nick's arm then started pulling him forward as a guide while Rochelle moved a bit ahead, firing into the horde coming from the city. Coach stayed where he stood and began firing into the horde, before he finally decided to run away with the rest. Nick growled as he tried to wipe the bile from his eyes to see, but more would just flow down to blind him. Ellis stopped every now and then to fire into the horde with his hunting rifle before moving along with Nick. Rochelle stayed ahead of the group to make sure the path ahead was clear, and would turn around and offer the most covering fire. Coach would often turn around and blast zombies less than a few feet away from him before smacking them in the face with his gun then running ahead, only to repeat the process. Ellis struggled to keep Nick on his feet, as the latter was slipping on the bile that now reached the bottoms of his feet.

"God damn man, try to keep still," Ellis stated. "Agh, here, get in that car!"

"What," Nick questioned.

"Just get in the damn car man! Shit!" Nick wiped the bile away from his eyes to temporarily see the door handle of a car. He opened it then got in, closing the door behind him as he tried to clean the rest of the bile off. Suddenly, the door opened again and Ellis grabbed Nick by the shoulders. "Okay that ain't the best idea in the world!"

"Damn it Ellis, make up your mind!"

"I did: my choice is hurry up man!" Nick quickly got out and fired two shots into the hordes climbing over the cars in a mad rush towards the bile covered survivor. Ellis began firing with his automatic shotgun as Nick made a break for it. "Dang it, there's too many! AH SHIT!" The horde knocked Ellis to the ground and rushed towards Nick with the former being trampled underneath them.

"Ah shit," Nick shouted as he stopped and fired bullet after bullet into the horde. Zombies dropped one by one, causing some of the infected to trip over the corpses. Nick's pistol clicked empty, causing him to drop the blank clip and pull out a fresh one as the zombies rushed towards him. "God damn it!" The zombies dropped in waves suddenly, causing Nick to turn and see Rochelle standing on a nearby car, firing into the zombies with her assault rifle.

"Hurry up Nick," the news reporter shouted out as she fired relentlessly into the horde of zombies.

Nick turned and ran towards Rochelle as quickly as possible. On the way, Coach popped behind a car and hurled something shining past Nick. The conman heard a beeping noise, and that caused him to run faster. The zombies gathered around the pipe bomb, screaming and trying to bash the beeping device out of existence. The bomb's explosion was larger than most pipe bombs, rivaling that of a propane tank. The blast damaged a few nearby cars and caused Nick to fly forward and face plant into the pavement. Coach ran up as Nick pushed himself up with a painful groan.

"You okay boy," Coach asked, pulling Nick up to his knees at the very least.

"I think so." Nick placed his hand to his forehead, and realized he now had a small cut.

"We'll get that patched up in no time man." Nick nodded, but his eyes shot open shortly afterwards as he turned around suddenly.

"Shit, Ellis! Where are you!?"

"Watch out," Coach shouted as he pointed to a Hunter that was soaring over the cars. Nick cringed, ready to take the impact of the zombie landing on him as Coach raised his shotgun. A blast rang out that tore the Hunter in half. The front end landed on Nick's chest, and the lower half landed a few feet away. "Awe that ain't right…" Nick opened his eyes slowly, looking at the dead, but still vicious eyes of a Hunter. The conman screamed with fear and disgust as he pushed the half-a-corpse off of him.

"Ah, damn nasty shit!" Coach looked forward, seeing Ellis stand up with his hat in his hand instead of on his hand, his shirt a bit tattered, and a few bruises on his face and his hair messed up.

"Damn, you okay Ellis," Coach asked.

"Yep," the mechanic replied with a smile as he put his cap back on his head. "I've been better, but I ain't got anythin to complain about."

"I do," Nick snapped, standing up quickly. "You got organs on my suit!"

"Well in my personal opinion: organs are better than your suit being clawed to shit Nick," Coach said in defense of Ellis. "So stop cryin about it and let's get ready to move." Nick shot a glare at Coach, then shifted his gaze to Ellis before moving forward.

"Is everybody okay," Rochelle asked as the three men approached her.

"Yep, fit as a fiddle," Ellis replied with a smile.

"Good," Rochelle began as she aimed her assault rifle and fired a burst from it. The men jumped with shock at the sudden gunshots, but heard a Smoker explode. The three survivors turned, seeing a cloud of smoke among the many cars and then turned their attention back to Rochelle. The news reporter put her assault rifle on her shoulder with a cocky smirk, "Now can we keep moving?" Without waiting for a response, Rochelle turned and jumped off of the car and continued forward with her three partners all in shock.

They spent nearly an hour and a half walking down the car infested road, climbing over and down all types of vehicles. The good news was there was hardly any infected for them to have to deal with aside from the stragglers and the occasional special infected. They continued walking, tired and grumpy as the sun rose in the horizon.

"God damn it, I need to take a break," Nick sighed out before sitting down on the hood of a car.

"Shit, I can't go on much further myself," Ellis added, placing his hands on his knees as he slumped over.

"Alright, alright people," Coach wheezed out. "I understand." The school coach looked around, finding a nearby small house on the side of the road. "We'll rest up in there and then keep moving. Come on ya'll." Coach took the lead towards the house while the rest followed lazily behind him. The heavyset man opened the door without thought and examined the living room. "Alright, who's keepin watch first?"

"Not me," Rochelle replied. "If I find a working shower that's where you'll find me." The news woman walked further into the house, leaving only the three boys to decide who would stay up first.

"Awe shit Coach, there ain't no zombies around. We could all probably sleep for a few hours without worryin about gettin our faces eaten off right?"

"Alright young'un," Coach said, holding both hands up. "But I get that chair, got it?"

"Damn it," Rochelle exclaimed, walking back into the room. "I should've known better. The shower doesn't work."

"Awe, I'm sorry Ro," Ellis replied. "Maybe next time."

"Hopefully we're out of here sometime soon," Nick snapped. "Why the hell don't we just steal a car? We stole that one guy's car didn't we?"

"Jimmy Gibbs Junior," Ellis asked. "I don't know if I can drive another car after knowin what it's like to drive that beauty. Hey, you think once we get rescued that I could ask the army to send in a team to find it and bring it back?"

"Yeah, they'll waste search and rescue teams to get some old, dead guy's car," Nick responded, sarcasm dripping from his tone. "Besides, Jimmy Gibbs is dead anyway remember? We had to shoot him."

"We didn't hafta shoot em," Ellis shouted. "Just cause he was a zombie doesn't mean we couldn't of locked him in a closet or somethin! But you just had to shoot him and throw him off the balcony didn't ya Nick?"

"Correction: I _had_ to shoot him several times, and then I _had_ to send him spinning head over heels off the balcony and then bust his head wide open."

"You're a cruel man Nick," Ellis muttered. "You've made a lot of enemies by killin that man."

"Yeah, most of his fans were probably in that mall anyway. I'm not too worries about pissing off a bunch of redneck NASCAR lovers anyway."

"That's not cool man," Ellis muttered again. Nick scoffed and waved his hand off dismissively.

"Alright, let's just all try to get some sleep," Coach said with a huge yawn.

"Right," Rochelle agreed. "I feel like I could just fall asleep right now." Nick sighed then threw his gun to the floor and lied down on the carpet next to it. Ellis leaned his back against a wall then slid down with one leg extended and the other bent up so he could place his hat on his knee. Coach got in the massive reclining chair, sat down and reclined back, moaning with comfort.

"Awe hell yeah baby," Coach exclaimed. Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle all looked up, giving Coach questioning stares which went unnoticed. "Awe, I say we just bring this chair with us! Put some wheels on it and I'd be set!"

"You'd also become even fatter," Nick shot back with a smirk. "We don't need you any fatter Coach. All this running for your life stuff is doing wonders for your thighs by the way." Rochelle giggled a bit as she got on the couch, laying her head on a pillow while Ellis only chuckled, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes.

"Yeah, keep jokin Nick," Coach replied. "You know who makes it through the apocalypse? It ain't gonna be the guy makin the jokes." Nick huffed with a smile before lying his head down. "Night ya'll."

"Goodnight Coach," Ellis replied. "Night Nick, night Rochelle."

"Night Coach, goodnight Ellis, goodnight Nick," Rochelle added.

"Night John-boy," Nick said, turning to Ellis. Coach and Rochelle both chuckled a bit while Ellis only smirked. Nick turned to Coach next, "Goodnight tubs," and then he turned to Rochelle, "Goodnight loud girl."

"Yeah, you keep joking like this and ain't none of us gonna get any sleep," Coach told Nick with a smile.

"Right, sorry," Nick apologized, though he knew it wasn't necessary. "Night ya'll," the conman shouted with the thickest southern accent possible. The survivors laughed quietly, mostly due to fatigue. "Alright, I'm done now. Goodnight guys."

"Goodnight," Rochelle exclaimed, rolling over on the couch.

"You may want to sleep with your back to the wall Rochelle," Nick said. "Lest you're naïve enough to think you could trust three dudes like us."

"Nick," Coach exclaimed. Rochelle rolled back over, glaring daggers at Nick who only chuckled. "Man you keep this up and you'll have to keep watch."

"Alright, NOW I'm officially done." The survivors all sighed out as they closed their eyes to finally get some sleep.

…

Nick opened his eyes groggily, groaning against his best efforts to wake up. He ran his hand down his face and looked around the empty room, seeing the guns lying around but nothing else. "Ellis," Nick called out, his voice echoing off the walls. "Coach, Rochelle? Where are you guys?" The conman got up, picking up his pistol in his hand. He looked over, seeing the door gently squeaking open from a gentle breeze from outside. Nick slowly approached the door to head outside.

Fog surrounded the road before him as his footsteps echoed like he was in a mausoleum. Nick looked around, finding everything to be a bit…off. "Coach, Ellis, Rochelle, is anyone out here?" Nick kept his pistol ready in case of any type of zombie that would break out into the fog. "You assholes better not of left me…" Nick spun around, hearing the sound of echoing footsteps that didn't belong to him. A figure stood in the fog, unable to be seen through the hazy curtain. "Please tell me you're human." The figure rushed forward without a word, and that was enough for Nick.

Four shots rang out and a body hit the ground face first into the pavement. Nick sighed, looking around in case of any other zombies came rushing at him.

"Nick," a voice whispered out quietly. The conman turned around, seeing no one in front of him. "Nick…" Said man looked down at the figure he shot, its arm moving slowly. Nick approached the body slowly and knelt down. He hesitantly reached out and in one swift motion spun the body over. A young man with hazel eyes and long brown hair looked up at Nick with blood coming from his mouth. "Why'd you shoot me Uncle Nick?"

…

Nick shot up, gasping fearfully. He put his hand to his forehead and realized he was sweating bullets. Not only that, but he also realized he was breathing heavily. Nick looked around, realizing he didn't wake anyone else up. He leaned forward for a moment to catch his breath then got up and left the room. Nick went into the bedroom, finding nothing but an old nightstand in the corner of the room and a wide, barred window. He sat in front of the window, staring off into space. The dream, the image wouldn't go away in his mind. Nick looked out the window, seeing the cars stretching on for miles down the road. He sighed heavily, shutting his eyes tightly to try and fight the dream fresh in his mind.

"Hey man," a voice, thick in southern drawl whispered. Nick turned his head, seeing Ellis walking into the room, opening his mouth as widely as possible to yawn. "What're you doin up?"

"Didn't mean to wake you," Nick said, evading the question.

"It's cool man. I was trying to head back to sleep anyhow. What're you doin up though?" Nick turned his head to the window, his expression turning into one of annoyance.

"I couldn't sleep…"

"How come?"

"I…I just couldn't okay. Drop it."

"Shoot Nick, there has to be a reason someone can't go to sleep. Like this one time me and ma buddy Keith had a sleepover when we were really young, like kids right, and we wanted to go to sleep, but we thought there was this monster behind the couch right. So what we do, is we get ma daddy's shotgun, and walk up to the couch. Blew three huge holes in the couch, and the bullets tore the wall up pretty good too. Keith had a nasty ol bruise on his shoulder and that's kinda where his whole bad luck stuff started." Nick grunted quietly in acknowledgement. Ellis narrowed his eyes skeptically then walked over and sat across from Nick. "You sure yer okay man? I've never seen ya so quiet before."

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I'm fine Ellis."

"You still don't look fine to me Nick." The conman sighed, looking up with an annoyed expression on his face. "Was it a bad dream or somethin?" Nick turned his head away from Ellis. "What was it about?"

"Nothing…"

"Nick, come on man you can tell me. We're pals right? Pals share stuff with each other. I figure I've told you a fair share of Keith stories so you could just tell me what your dream was about right?" Nick sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead with aggravation before he turned to Ellis.

"I had a bad dream. You guys were gone, it was foggy out, and I shot someone. Now can we drop it?" Nick turned away without waiting for an answer. Ellis opened his mouth to speak, but it shut as soon as Nick turned away.

"Who'd ya shoot? It was probably me right?" Despite the joking tone in Ellis' voice, Nick ruined his good mood with a brisk shake of his head. "Was it Coach? I know you and Coach argue a lot, even though it's mostly just messin with each other now." Again, Nick shook his head. "So you shot Rochelle?" Nick shook his head once more. "Well shoot whose left? Whitaker, Virgil, that chopper pilot? Well, you actually shot him didn't you?" Nick remained frozen as Ellis chuckled a bit before sighing. "Alright Nick, just tell me who'd ya shoot? I've guessed just about everyone so whose left?"

"My nephew alright," Nick shouted, finally exceeding his level of tolerance. "I shot Jamie! I thought he was a fucking zombie so I fucking shot him!" Nick turned away again, breathing heavily while Ellis sat there with his jaw hanging open slightly. There was silence in the room. Ellis rubbed the back of his neck, at a loss of what to say while Nick just continued breathing heavily through his nose.

"Well…shoot man it was just a dream right," Ellis asked. "Dreams can't hurt no one. Except if you're like a murderer or somethin. You're no murderer Nick. Sure you've killed a lot of zombies, but we've all killed a bunch of zombies."

"You don't get it," Nick snapped. "Just get the fuck out Ellis."

"Hey listen man I'm just-,"

"Get. Out. Now." Ellis sighed then stood up and headed for the door, but stopped halfway. He turned to face Nick, his eyes hardened for the first time since the two had known each other.

"I've had to actually kill people I know Nick," Ellis replied. "I knew a lot of people where I lived, and I had to shoot a lot of em." Nick's rage filled face receded a bit to a normal expression. "The way I see it you should be happy it was only a dream and not real life." With that Ellis left the room and closed the door gently behind him. Nick looked at the ground. Now he couldn't get Ellis' words out of his head. Great.

Ellis looked down the hall, seeing Coach and Rochelle standing across from him. "Is he okay," Coach asked. Ellis nodded to the ground then looked up at Coach. "We only heard a little bit. Just give him time okay?"

"Alright," Ellis replied with a nod. He walked back towards the living room, and Coach put one of his massive arms over the mechanic's shoulder as Rochelle placed a hand on his back.

"You okay Ellis," Rochelle asked. The mechanic nodded with an embarrassed smile. "What's wrong sweetie?"

"Shucks, I feel like a kid gettin candy from his parents," Ellis admitted with a blush. Coach chuckled a bit, shaking his head while Rochelle only smiled. "Shit, I can't help it. But that does remind me of this time me and ma buddy Keith got into-,"

"Boy I thought you said you were runnin out of them stories," Coach half accused.

"I guess I had more of em," Ellis replied with a shrug. "Either that or I'm repeatin stories that you guys interrupted me while I was talkin. Oh which reminds me this one time Keith and I, we got ourselves a weddin cake for Keith's cousin."

"Boy don't talk about cake around me," Coach snapped. "I'm STARVIN!"


	8. Endless Supply of Shotguns and Chocolate

Coach- combat shotgun

Ellis- hunting rifle, automatic shotgun

Nick- pistol, AK-47

Rochelle- assault rifle

Morning struck and the survivors all got up from their powernaps. Coach yawned like a bear out of hibernation as he stretched his arms over his head. "Damn, how long were we sleepin?"

"Shucks, who knows," Ellis replied. "We could've been asleep for twenty four hours." Nick and Coach rolled their eyes, the latter with a smile on his face. "It can be done, seriously. This one time me and Keith spent an entire day runnin around riding horses, chasing pigs, racing four-wheelers, and we spent all that night cow-tippin and we stayed asleep for a full day. But Keith apparently woke up some time before me and bumped his head and was put into a four day coma."

"Sheesh Ellis," Nick yawned as he stretched his neck a bit. "You had me believing that there was a story that didn't involve Keith getting hurt in some way."

"Awe shoot man, Keith always gets hurt, and not even from doin stupid shit neither. One time he was just walkin across the street, mindin his own business when a crazy hobo on crack jumped out of the bushes and stabs him! Doesn't even take his money or anything, just stabbed him. The hobo was crazy too, he was babbling jibberish and he wore a tinfoil hat, and then he ran out into the street and got hit by a car after he stabbed Keith."

"Jeez, that boy is gonna get hit with an anvil one day," Coach muttered. "At any rate, we should get movin."

The survivors got up and picked up their weapons. Once outside, the survivors noticed that there were no zombies in the area. Everyone thought that maybe they caught a break, but knew better than to think it would last. The gang walked down the street, Nick completely at ease, Ellis trying to copy Nick, Rochelle slightly wary, and Coach utterly and completely on guard.

"So how much you wanna bet that the Midnight Riders are dead Coach," Nick asked with a sly smirk on his face.

"Don't joke about that Nick," Coach muttered.

"I really don't think they could've gotten too far after the amusement park we went to. I mean just think of how many zombies we've encountered, and the Riders promised to keep doing their tour."

"Nick, I'm serious, be quite."

"Nick why do you love to kill everyone's idols," Ellis asked. "First you shoot Jimmy Gibbs Junior, and now you're talkin bout the Midnight Riders being dead!"

"Hey, I either had to shoot Jimmy Gibbs, or watch him eat your head off!" Ellis turned his head away and pouted.

"You could've just shot him once…"

_**-Flashback-**_

_The survivors were running towards the elevator, spotting no zombies in the immediate area. "CEDA isn't gonna save us," Nick pointed out. "Any ideas?"_

"_Oh yeah," Ellis shouted as he leaned over the railings. "Jimmy Gibbs' stockcar! We'll gas it up and I'll drive that thing to New Orleans my damn self!" The rest of the gang leaned over the railing, staring at the car. Coach laughed triumphantly while Nick let out a low whistle._

"_Agreed, but I'm driving."_

_Ellis scoffed, "Not unless I die first, in which case you better kill me first, cause I'm drivin!"_

"_What a fun road trip this'll be," Nick muttered. "Anyway, let's at least get on the elevator." Ellis was the first to turn around, excited at the idea of driving the famed stockcar. What the mechanic saw though horrified him._

"_NOOO!" Nick, Coach, and Rochelle spun around, readying their weapons when they saw the paled, zombie-fied Jimmy Gibbs Junior. "It can't be! Jimmy Gibbs!" The stockcar racer let out a feral scream then charged forward._

"_Move it," Coach shouted as he shoved Ellis out of the way. The zombie celebrity swung at the empty air that Ellis was standing in, then turned around with blood dripping from his mouth._

"_I'm getting sick and tired of looking at your face Jimmy Gibbs," Nick shouted in pure, uncontained rage. "FUCKING DIE!" Nick pulled the trigger on his AK-47, punching holes through the driver's body. The zombie grunted and gurgled as the bullets hit in almost every inch of his body._

"_NO," Ellis shrieked. "NICK DON'T!" Nick's gun clicked empty, and somehow Jimmy Gibbs was still standing with blood pouring out from the various holes in his body, and almost half of his jaw was missing._

"_God damn it, I'm still tired of looking at your face!" Nick pulled out a cricket bat then ran up and cracked it across the driver's face, twisting its head around. A sickening snap was heard as Jimmy Gibbs' neck broke. The stockcar driver let out a few weak gurgles before falling back off the railing._

"_NOOOOOOOO!" The stockcar racer hit the ground with a heavy, wet splat. Nick sighed casually, flinging some of the clots of blood and other matter off his bat._

"_Alright," the conman said calmly, "let's get going. That damn car won't fill itself up." Nick placed the bat calmly on his shoulder and started whistling as he made his way to the elevator while Ellis was dumbstruck by what he just saw. His idol was just brutally murdered right before his eyes. This was a sight Ellis would never forget._

_**-End Flashback-**_

"Ellis: he was a zombie," Nick snapped. "Get over it alright?"

"Nick: you killed my hero! How would you feel if I killed your hero?"

"Well, Elvis died on the shitter, and Al Capone kicked the bucket too," Nick replied. "So you'd be shooting dead guys. Oh wait, Jimmy Gibbs was a dead guy right? That's because HE WAS A ZOMBIE!"

"I'm still never gonna forgive you for that," Ellis hissed. "You could've just pushed him, but no! You had to twist his head around!"

"Alright enough," Rochelle interjected, "I really don't want to remember that disgusting sight or sound."

"The girl's right," Coach added with a nod, "rememberin that sick shit is ruinin my appetite."

"Holy hell we've found a way for you not to become hungry," Nick shouted. "Good lord it's a miracle!"

"You're not being funny Nick, just loud," Coach seethed.

"Whatever," the conman replied with a careless shrug.

The gang continued down the road, unbeknownst to them that someone, or rather something, was watching them from the forest. The creature moved as quietly as possible through the woods, watching the survivors intently. Suddenly, it let out a loud roar of anger as it rushed into the clearing, catching the survivors' attention.

"TANK," they all shouted before firing their guns.

The Tank punched a car, sending it whizzing towards the survivors. Nick ran off to the right with Coach while Ellis and Rochelle ran to the left. The vehicle barely missed the fleeing humans. Nick and Rochelle started firing at the beast from two different sides. The monster screamed in anger then lashed one of its massive arms out, striking a nearby car and sending it flying towards Nick and Coach. The two ducked as the car collided with the pickup trick in front of them. Coach turned and steadied his shotgun as the Tank came rampaging towards them. Nick turned around too and started firing into the beast's front. Ellis leaned his shotgun against the nearest car and then shouldered his hunting rifle then started firing piercing rounds into the Tank's back. The monster roared with anger, but focused on Coach and Nick first. As the Tank got closer, Coach started firing shells from his shotgun into the beast. The monster gave no signs of stopping as it raised its hands high into the air above the survivors' heads. Nick and Coach dove to the side as the Tank's hands smashed into the ground. The Tank used its fingers to tear a chunk of earth from the ground, and then spun around to throw it at Ellis and Rochelle. The mechanic tackled the newswoman out of the way as the heavy chunk of rock crushed a car. Nick looked over to a car that was a few feet away from the Tank.

"God I pray this works," Nick muttered as he zeroed down his sights on the AK on the open gas lid of the car. One single burst from Nick's weapon caused the car to blow up. The explosion knocked Nick on his back and caused the other survivors to shield their eyes and turn away. The conman groaned as he got up, seeing that the Tank was now blown in half, and the half that stayed in tact was burning like a bonfire. "HELL YEAH! Did you see that? I fucked that Tank up!"

"Good shot Nick," Coach admitted as he approached the conman. "But that explosion most likely drew the attention of some unwanted guests. Let's keep moving ya'll!"

"Ellis, come on sweetie," Rochelle urged, helping the mechanic to his feet.

"Awe shit, that Tank broke ma shotgun!"

"It's fine Ellis. I don't think the world ran out of shotguns just yet."

"Come on ya'll," Nick shouted with a deep voice, trying in a vain attempt to sound like Coach. "If we don't hurry, the chocolate at the nearest store might melt!"

"Ha-ha Nick," Coach snapped. "They ain't gonna run outta chocolate!" Nick smiled then turned his head over to see Ellis and Rochelle had caught up. Coach took the lead as the team began to jog down the road.

* * *

Hey ya'll, sorry that this chapter is so short, and has no point, but I just wrote it so you all know I haven't forgotten about it. I just have four or five other stories I'm working on right now, so uh…yeah, sorry for the lack of attention with the zombies and stuff…hope you enjoyed this chapter at least! BYE!


	9. Romero High

Coach- combat shotgun

Ellis- hunting rifle

Nick- pistol, AK-47

Rochelle- assault rifle

The survivors calmly walked down the road, coming up to a school that read Romero High. The school looked more like a college campus than a high school.

"Looks like you'll have to repeat high school again Ellis," Nick said.

"Aren't you the comedian," Ellis shot back angrily.

"Do we have to go through the high school," Rochelle asked, turning to Coach.

The heavyset man looked around the road. Piles of cars and overturned diesels blocked the roads on both sides, leaving the school before them as their only way to pass.

"Looks that way," Coach answered to Rochelle. "Let's move people." The group followed Coach forward into the entrance building to the campus.

Ellis kicked open the door, getting the attention of a zombie dressed in a basketball jersey and shorts and a second zombie dressed in a blue, bloodied suit. Ellis fired a round from his hunting rifle through the sporty zombie's face and pierced a locker behind it. Nick fired two shots from his pistol, one in the stomach of the zombie in the suit, and the second through the chest. The infected hit the floor, blood oozing from their wounds.

Coach motioned his hand forward, raising his shotgun up and moving forward quietly. The halls were nearly pitch black, with the only light coming from the group's flashlights. The exit doors were blocked off by a pile of rubble, as the survivors soon learned.

"Damn it," Nick cursed.

The sound of a low, feral growl echoed throughout the halls. The survivors turned around, only to see a Hunter leaping out of the shadows and pounce Rochelle. Ellis swung his rifle up like a club, smashing the Hunter's chin. The agile zombie quickly flipped around and landed on all fours before leaping into cover in the darkness.

"Nick, let's get that thing," Coach shouted.

The conman and football coach ran down the halls while Ellis helped Rochelle up. The duo turned the corner, seeing another hallway cut off by rubble and no sign of the Hunter.

"What the hell, where'd it go," Nick asked.

"Maybe we should just let it go," Coach suggested. "Come on, let's check back with Rochelle and the others." Nick nodded then followed Coach back to the others.

Ellis and Rochelle were already on their way back to join up with Nick and Coach. They former duo nodded to the latter duo, and the survivors were on their way to look for another way around.

Navigating through the dark empty halls, Ellis shined his light on a sign above a door just to the right of him that read 'science room.' Nick stood next to Ellis, looking at the sign and placed a firm hand on the mechanic's shoulder.

"I'm guessing this and math wasn't your strong suit in school."

Ellis rolled his eyes then turned and looked through the window. It was empty, but a wall was broken down, leading further into the high school campus. Ellis turned and whistled for Coach and Rochelle.

The group gathered around the front of the door. Nick slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open. Ellis and Coach moved in first, shining their lights in every corner of the room to ensure that there weren't any hidden surprises. Nick and Rochelle backed into the room, making sure nothing tried to ambush them from behind. Ro closed the door and turned around, facing the same direction as the rest of the team.

Coach and Rochelle poked their heads around the corners of the destroyed wall, seeing a few zombies skulking around the open space. Coach motioned for Nick and Ellis to move up quietly to the nearest bit of cover behind and overturned table. The conman and mechanic quickly moved to the table and hid behind it. The movement remained unnoticed by the infected.

The gears in Coach's head started turning as he tried to think of a plan that didn't involve making a lot of noise and attracting even more zombies. Before he could come up with a foolproof plan, a strange, but all too familiar gurgling noise was heard. Coach and Rochelle both spun their heads up, seeing a bloated zombie, wearing a white polo with dark green stains on it, and broken glasses on his face, standing above them.

"BOOMER," Coach shouted as he raised up his shotgun. The Boomer unleashed a tidal wave of bile that covered Rochelle and Coach from head to toe.

Nick and Ellis heard Coach's scream before being drenched with Boomer puke. Ellis took aim at the fat zombie and fired as Nick turned his attention to the nearby zombies. The Boomer exploded, leaving nothing but the lower half of his body left, but the bile or Rochelle and Coach drew the attention of all the zombies.

"Shit," Nick shouted as he stood up from cover, "They're coming!"

Ellis turned around with a panicked look on his face before he started unloading into the horde of oncoming zombies. Nick held his pistol out with a straight arm and aimed high to blow holes in the zombies' heads. The zombie students and a few professors dropped, but there were more than Ellis and Nick could shoot alone.

Coach and Rochelle backed away, trying to clear the bile from their eyes to see exactly what was coming at them. Rochelle was the first to see the horde of zombies coming. Promptly, she raised her assault rifle up and fired into the mob, still moving back to the nearest wall.

Coach cleared his eyes and quickly raised his shotgun and started blasting. Zombie chunks flew through the air with blood streaming behind them. Rochelle and Coach both had their backs against the wall and fired into the mob of zombies coming at them.

"Over here you blood drooling fuck-tards," Nick shouted as he fired into the horde from behind. Ellis was busy reloading his hunting rifle. "Come on, pay attention you fucking idiots!"

"Nick be careful, one of them bullets might go through and hit Coach or Ro," Ellis pleaded. Nick turned with an angered expression on his face. "It's true, this one time me and Keith were-,"

"GOOD GOD! Are you fucking serious," Nick shouted, his face becoming red with rage. "You seriously can't believe that right NOW is a good time for one of your Keith stories!"

"Alright," Ellis shouted, firing a few rounds into the horde, "I'll tell you 'bout it later!"

After about a minute, the horde finally stopped. Piles of zombies lied around Coach and Rochelle from within the building, reaching all the way outside. Nick and Ellis reloaded their guns. Nick's pistol had run out of ammo, and Ellis' hunting rifle was low too.

"Is everyone alright," Coach asked, stepping over the zombie corpses with Rochelle following behind him.

"We're fine, you guys are the ones who got mobbed."

"I took a good hit," Coach said, pointing at two light claw marks on her forearm. "Other than a few scrapes and bruises we're good. We need to keep movin though, let's roll."

Suddenly, a patch of acid appeared in front of the survivors, causing them to jump back with fear.

"Spitter," Rochelle shouted. The guys looked up, seeing a Spitter in a cheerleading outfit, scampering across the rooftops.

"Oh that ain't right," Ellis muttered before raising his hunting rifle. One shot whizzed cleanly through the zombie's body, causing her to screech before falling off the roof and landing with acid coming out from its corpse.

"Hey Ellis, looks like your high school sweetheart," Nick joked with a playful jab.

"Oh ha-ha," Ellis rolled his eyes, but couldn't help it as a smirk crossed his face.

"Let's keep moving ya'll," Coach said with a huge grin on his face from Nick's joke.

The group headed for the school's library. The front doors were blown off from some type of explosive, hence the black burn marks on the walls. Coach and Nick moved in first, looking around everywhere, but saw nothing. Ellis and Rochelle moved in behind them, scanning the library and coming up with nothing.

"Just so you know: Ellis this is a library. It's where people come to read books." Ellis sighed, growing slightly annoyed with the jokes Nick was making. "Man I'm on a roll!"

"You know Nick, next time you need help, I ain't gonna help you until the very last second," Ellis replied.

"Oh please, I'm the man! I don't need help. I'll alert every last damn zombie in the area just to prove a point." Nick aimed his gun to a random part of the library and let loose with a stream of bullets across the library, hitting nearly every shelf and book.

Unbeknownst to the survivors, there was a witch with her hair tied back into a bun, round glasses on her face, wearing a white button up shirt and a tattered blue skirt. The skinny zombie became enraged with the sudden loud sounds and the papers raining down on and around her, as well as a few hard back books hitting her on the head.

Nick reloaded his empty weapon while Coach, Ellis, and Rochelle all looked around, waiting for a horde to come out any second.

"See, nothing happened," Nick boasted proudly. There was a sudden loud crash, causing everyone to look back, seeing the librarian Witch running at them.

"OH SHIT," Coach boomed.

"It was him," Nick shouted fearfully, pointing to Ellis as he ran to the side.

The Witch, unknown as to who startled her, decided to attack all the survivors. She backhanded Rochelle with enough force to lift her off her feet. The news reporter landed on a small children's table that broken under her weight.

Coach screamed with rage and fired, just as the Witch knocked the shotgun out of his hands. The large man screamed again and threw his giant fist across the Witch's face, causing it to stumble. The Witch shrieked with rage as she charged and rammed into Coach. The infected slammed the football coach's back against a bookshelf, knocking several books on them both.

The Witch turned around and charged at Ellis who fired a few sloppily aimed rounds at her. After the Witch quickly closed the distance, Ellis turned tail and ran for his life.

"This is why I've never liked libraries," Ellis screamed.

The mechanic quickly turned grabbed the heaviest, thickest book he could find and hurled it at the Witch. The infected librarian took one swipe and shredded the book to tiny pieces. Ellis yelped with fright before he continued to flee.

"Hey bitch," Nick shouted, "over here!"

The conman fired his AK into the back of the Witch, landing a few good shots. The Witch screamed in pain before turning around and sprinting full speed at Nick. The conman swore under his breath then ran the opposite direction. He soon ran into a dead end. One glance over his shoulder and Nick saw the Witch approaching fast. With no other options left, Nick started climbing the bookshelf in front of him.

Using the shelves as footholds and places to grab, Nick quickly scaled the wall of abandoned books. Nick looked down, seeing that the Witch didn't waste a second by following after him.

"Fuck," Nick shrieked as he climbed faster.

While he climbed, Nick started kicking some books down on the Witch to slow her down. It worked for awhile, before Nick got to the top of the bookshelf.

"Double fuck!"

Nick looked down, seeing the Witch was about two arm's length away. A crazy idea suddenly formed in Nick's head. The conman shifted his weight back, causing the bookshelf to lean back. As it fell backwards, books rained down on the carpeted ground, and the Witch fell with them. Nick dove to the side right before the bookshelf was about to land on the shrieking Witch. The conman rolled as he hit, also grunting before he came to a stop. He looked up and smiled that his bat-shit crazy plan worked. In the blink of an eye, the Witch exploded upward from the metal bookshelf, screaming with anger.

"Oh come on!" Nick quickly looked around, seeing no valuable weapon in sight and a brick wall directly behind him.

The Witch bore its teeth, its eyes flaring with rage and it screamed with blood thirst. Nick continued walking back until his back was firmly pressed against the wall. He had no more crazy plans this time as the Witch started sprinting full speed.

"Look out below," a thick southern drawl shouted.

Nick looked over, seeing another bookshelf falling on its side. The Witch turned its head and shrieked with anger or shock as the bookshelf crushed it from the waist down. The infected librarian whined and shrieked with pain as it tried to move its upper body free. Coach walked on the bookcase, adding his tremendous weight on the Witch's lower body. The infected shrieked in anger as it turned its head to glare daggers at Coach.

"Return notice," Coach began as he lowered the barrel of his shotgun to the Witch's face. A single blast from the shotgun blew a gaping hole in the Witch's head. "Overdue bitch!"

"Jesus Christ," Nick sighed out, "You couldn't wait to help me sooner?"

"I would, but that Witch seemed pissed off," Ellis replied, jogging into the clearing. "But I saved you with the bookshelf right? I got the idea from my buddy Keith. His truck was stuck in the mud on this hill between a downward slope and a huge rock. So me Keith and Dave get between the rock and the truck, put our backs against the rock and we placed our feet against the truck and pushed. It was so cool, the truck rolled down the hill like eight times and ran Keith's insurance through the roof! Oh man his parents were mad."

"Well at least nothing bad happened to him," Coach said.

"No, he got mauled by a cougar on our way down," Ellis added with a casual tone. Nick opened his mouth to say something, but was unable to find the proper words.

"Guys," Rochelle called out weakly, "A little help?"

"Oh shit, Ro," Ellis was the first to run towards her, followed by Nick, then Coach.

The news reported had crawled away from the broken table, but had a huge gash on her arm, and she was slightly disoriented from smashing through a table. Ellis helped her up and pulled her away from the table.

"You okay Ro," Coach asked, kneeling down.

"I'm fine." Rochelle winced in pain, tensing her arm as some blood oozed out of her wound.

"Yeah, you're about as fine as Keith in one of Ellis' stories," Nick replied. "We gotta get you patched up."

"I can do it," Ellis offered. "You guys watch out for zombies." Nick and Coach nodded then quickly stood up, turning away from the mechanic and news reporter. Nick and Coach stood a few feet away, keeping watch while Ellis fixed up Rochelle.

"I got a bad feelin about this man," Coach said, leaning towards Nick.

"Why, what's wrong Coach?"

"We're at a school and we've seen a nerdy Boomer, a cheerleader Spitter, and a librarian Bitch."

"Witch," Nick corrected.

"Whatever. I just got a bad feelin that _I_ might get turned into a zombie at this school."

"We're immune Coach, at least I think we are. If we haven't gotten infected with all the bites, scratches, gashes, bruises, and whatever the hell other injuries we've gotten, then I don't think this school is going to be your grave."

"I hope you're right Nicholas."

"Hey guys," Ellis called out. Coach and Nick turned their heads, seeing Rochelle walking towards them with Ellis close by just in case. "She's okay, but I think we should rest a bit."

"I just hurt my arm Ellis, I can still walk."

"Still, one of us should hold onto your gun for a bit," Nick suggested. Rochelle nodded in agreement then handed her gun out in front of her. Ellis took it carefully as he threw his hunting rifle on his back. "Alright toots, you might have to stick close to us for now. Or you could grab a dictionary and start whacking zombies."

"No thanks," Rochelle replied with a chuckle.

The survivors moved through the schoolyard, watching out for any type of movement. So far everything seemed dead and quiet. The gang found the back wall had been broken down, allowing them to quickly escape the school grounds. Outside was a school bus which was heavily fortified with grating on the windows, a snow plow looking blade on the front, and spikes on the hubcaps of the tires.

"I like how this guy travels," Nick stated with an impressed tone.

"Let's hope the keys are still inside," Coach muttered, quickly moving up to the bus. The other three survivors stood outside, waiting on something. Coach leaned out of the bus door with a huge grin on his face. "We're in business baby!"

"That's what I like to hear," Nick shouted excitedly as he moved up to the bus quickly. Coach let out a laugh of triumph as he moved back into the bus while Nick followed behind him.

"You okay Ro," Ellis asked.

"Yeah sweetie, I'm fine. I just want to get moving." Ellis smiled then escorted Rochelle to the door of the bus, just as Coach turned the key, bringing the engine roaring with life.

"All aboard, next stop: anywhere but here!"

As Ellis and Ro got on, Coach pulled the door shut. Ellis sat Rochelle sat a few seats down in front of Nick and the mechanic himself took the seat across from her. Nick was towards the back, busy looking for anything worthy of scavenging. Coach didn't waste another minute and floored the breaks, shooting the bus down the road to salvation.

Yeah, so how about that? I'm not dead yet, and this chapter didn't take three months to post. I hope you all enjoyed it. I'll work on the next chapter once I get a better idea of where this story is going to go. Just a reminder though: it's going to be much shorter than Back 4 More, so this one won't be much longer. The good news is after this I'm making the sequel to Back 4 More, so no worries. Until then, please leave reviews =)


	10. Field Trip Gone Wrong

Coach- N/A

Ellis- N/A

Nick- banjo?

Rochelle- N/A

The survivors had been driving down the road in an armored school bus for several hours, running over various zombies and finally having a chance to relax for awhile. Nick had found a banjo in the back (A/N: remember at the end of the last chapter: 'anything WORTHY of scavenging). He often plucked strings and sang with a heavy southern accent.

"My name's Nick," the conman sang with the accent, "and I've been told I'm a dick. That there is Ellas, and he likes the fellas." Coach snickered in his seat while Ellis glared at Nick who continued. "That big boy drivin is Coach, approach him and get a fist to the face! But only if you're a drooling infected bitch. I've got an itch… There's Rochelle, she's probably killed a Michelle."

"What makes you think I've killed anyone Nick," Rochelle questioned, somewhat offended by the statement.

"You've shot a bunch of zombies. Guy zombies, girl zombies, and probably even a few transvestite zombies. I bet at least ONE of those zombies was named Michelle."

"At any rate, I'd suggest you stop that damn rhyming. You suck at it."

"I'd like to see you do better Fat Albert."

"Hey, hey, hey," Coach said jokingly.

"Do we have any idea where we're goin," Ellis asked.

"Away from zombies is fine with me," Nick replied, leaning back in his seat as he placed his banjo down.

"Yeah, but we could be headin north, south, or even east! We need to be headin west right?"

"Calm down Ellis, I got a compass up here."

"Oh good, cause this one time me and my buddy Keith got lost for sixteen hours in his mom's minivan. We finally found out where we were goin, and then we pull over cause Keith has to pee right? Well out of nowhere, this random hawk swoops down and tried to snatch Keith. He freaks out and falls down this really steep hill and rolls down it, cuttin himself up good. I got him home and into a hospital. Nothin too bad compared to what usually happens to him."

"Hey, we're comin up on a city," Coach announced. "It's gonna be a long trip. Who wants to get some supplies?"

"I'll do it," Nick replied as he raised his banjo into the air. "I need to break this puppy in."

"I'll go with him," Ellis offered. "I don't see a cowboy hat on yer head Nick, so you're gonna need help."

"Alright, well let's just hope that-,"

"Coach look out," Rochelle shrieked.

Coach turned his head forward, swerving to the side and swearing at the same time. Rochelle, Nick, and Ellis all held on tightly as the bus tipped to one side. It was evened out, more or less, whenever something crashed into the side of it, almost tipping it over on its other side. The survivors groaned as they got themselves up to their feet.

"What the hell was that," Ellis asked. Coach shook his head and looked outside, seeing two heavily armored military vehicles.

"Awe yeah baby! We saved!" Coach quickly opened the door and ran outside. The other three looked out and saw the same and immediately followed Coach.

The survivors got outside and walked over towards the vehicle that rammed them. The bus seemed to be the only thing damaged by the accident.

"Hello," Rochelle called out, "are you all alright?"

Suddenly, the vehicle in back opened up and four soldiers with automatic weapons came filing out, aiming their guns at the survivors. Even more soldiers stood towards the rear of the vehicle, holding their weapons just in case.

"Whoa, hey," Ellis exclaimed, immediately raising his hands above his head.

"What's all this shit about," Coach shouted.

"Hands above your head," one of the soldiers called. "I won't say it twice!" The rest of the survivors slowly raised their hands up. "Go check on the captain," the soldier ordered another.

One soldier ran up to the first vehicle and pulled the door open. The driver fell out of the side, either dead or unconscious. The soldier stepped away and looked up to see the other seat empty.

"The captain is gone sir!"

"He's not gone," a voice shouted. The soldiers and survivors looked over, seeing a man walking out from the other side of the vehicle with a pistol held to the head of a uniformed officer. "He's right here."

The man holding the gun had a thick, scraggly beard and wore a flannel shirt, looking very much like a lumberjack. The man whistled, and three more survivors came from behind the vehicle as well. One of them was a young woman with dark blonde hair, and sparkling green eyes. There was a young boy with blonde-red hair, glaring at the soldiers. The last of them was a young girl with short brown hair that stuck close to the lumberjack with a gun.

The soldiers turned their weapons on the lumberjack when they saw he had their captain. The lumberjack simply laughed mockingly as he pressed the gun against the officer's head.

"Oh-ho-ho, what's with all the hostility? I'm sure we can get along here can't we? Just put your guns down and I'm sure we could talk about this."

"Drop the gun and step away from our captain," a soldier shouted.

"Now normally I'd love to, but then there'd be nothing stopping you guys from shooting me. I'd rather not be shot. Drop your weapons men, or your captain gets a hole in the head."

"Now hold on," Coach interjected, "we ain't gotta go shootin each other do we? There are zombies out here. Why don't we just get in the vehicles and head to the nearest evac point alright?"

"Evac point," the lumberjack repeated. "Hell no! We did that, lost a few people, and we thought we were safe with these assholes! But it turns out that these guys think we're carriers and they want to dissect us to find a cure for the virus!"

"No way," Rochelle muttered.

"Believe it sweetheart. These guys threatened us at gunpoint, so now I'm gonna shoot em if they don't drop their FUCKING WEAPONS!"

"Alright, screw this," Nick shouted. "Why don't we just take one of these vehicles in exchange for their captain back?" The soldiers and second group of survivors glared at one another, uncertain if they'd accept that bargain. "If not that's fine, I'm sure we could just shoot each other and wind up zombie meat anyway."

"Hunter," Ellis hollered. The soldiers looked up, seeing a zombie flying through the air and landing on the soldier in the center of the group, knocking the others back.

"Open fire," one of the soldiers shouted. The lumberjack looked around, seeing a small horde of zombies coming at them and decided to ditch the officer.

"Get inside," he shouted.

The lumberjack moved towards the vehicle that crashed into the bus while the other three moved towards the rear. Ellis quickly fled towards the military vehicle. Nick wanted to go for their weapons, but decided to follow Ellis along with Coach and Rochelle.

Bullets and blood flew all over the place as soldiers and zombies started killing each other. The lumberjack started the engine of the heavy vehicle, backed out of the bus and raced towards the city the southern survivors were heading towards anyway.

"Shit," Ellis shouted, unable to stay still after that random course of events. "What the hell just happened?"

"We got fucked over that's what happened," Nick shouted. "The god damn military is so useless!"

"You got that right," the young boy agreed. "Those bastards were going to kill us."

"I'm done relying on the god damn military! Fuck those guys," Nick continued.

"Amen," the boy agreed once more.

"Great, now we got a Nick Junior," Coach muttered.

"Andrew, shut up," the older woman with blonde hair hissed. "Sorry about him. My name is Amy and this is my little brother Andrew."

"My name's Coach."

"Nick," the now enraged survivor replied quickly.

"Rochelle."

"Ellis," the mechanic replied, trying not to blush at the sight of such a pretty young woman.

"I'm Kelsey," the other girl with brown hair said.

"The crazy guy with the gun is Nelson," Amy added. "It's nice to meet some other survivors again."

"Again," Coach repeated. "You mean there are more out there? Are they captured by the military too?"

"I'm not sure," Amy shrugged. "Nelson rescued Andrew and I and then the three of us headed for a boat where we met Father Jackson."

"Yeah, then we rescued a group of five survivors, then we headed for a small town where things went to hell," Andrew stated angrily.

"I fucking hate when things go to hell," Nick muttered.

"Yeah, and for no reason too," Andrew added. "When we got to the town there were like fourteen of us and like five of them died because they got scared and ran off on their own!"

"Andrew," Amy hissed, "for the hundredth time: watch your mouth!"

"So what happened to the others," Rochelle asked.

"I'm not sure," Amy replied. "When they were evacuating us from the town they brought three of these vehicles. I hope Alan and the others got out safely…"

"So what happened after you got rescued," Coach questioned.

"The military assholes took us to a checkpoint and told us that we were being taken into captivity because we were carriers," Andrew explained angrily.

"God damn military with their stupid theories," Nick shouted, stomping on the metal ground beneath him. "There are no such things as freaking carriers!"

"I know," Andrew agreed. "There was even a little girl who wasn't immune to the virus and she never became infected!"

"Really," Rochelle asked with bewilderment.

"Yep," Amy nodded. "She was a part of Alan's group."

"So where are we headin exactly," Coach asked, changing the subject before Nick and Andrew started angrily agreeing with each other again.

"Well the military said that they were taking us to Tennessee to another checkpoint," Amy replied. The southern survivors looked up, eyes wide with shock. "So we're obviously not going there."

"Tennessee," Nick repeated.

"Yep, they were gonna stick us in some chopper and then take us to some place to be studied," Andrew said. "Luckily you guys came along and fucked their plans up."

"Andrew," Amy seethed, this time smacking her brother in the back of the head. "Watch. Your. Mouth!"

"Damn it," Coach muttered.

"So Tennessee's a bust," Nick added. "What next big guy…?"

"We don't have a lot of options," Coach sighed. "We still gotta go to Tennessee…"

"Are you freaking crazy," Kelsey exclaimed. "They'll shoot you on sight, or take you in and dissect you like lab rats!"

"You got a better idea sweetheart," Nick questioned. Granted he agreed it was totally crazy, but after their time together Nick knew that Coach never joked about a plan. "What's your plan anyway?"

"Our plan," Andrew asked, "we just got freed and we're supposed to have a plan already?"

"We'll have to talk with Nelson," Amy replied. "If he's all for it then we can go together." Coach nodded then leaned back, realizing that his last plan could save them all, or get them killed.

After a few moments of silence in the back of the vehicle, Nelson stopped the vehicle to get supplies, go to the restroom, and talk to the others. The survivors got out and walked into a convenience store while Nelson and Ellis ran quickly for the bathroom. The group started milling through the snacks and drinks that the store had, finding a limited number of goods. After Nelson came out of the bathroom, Amy and Coach approached him and told the lumberjack their plan.

"Well shit, that sounds extraordinarily life threatening, dangerous, reckless, and Tennessee! Do you have any idea how many zombies are between here and there!"

"I know it's crazy but-," Amy held her hand up to Coach, telling him to be quite.

"Shit let's do it," Nelson shouted. Coach's jaw dropped a bit as Nelson walked past towards the liquor section.

"He likes killing zombies," Amy replied with a shrug before walking off to the store.

Andrew and Nick were looking through the candy section, finding everything gone or the remaining candy to be crap.

"This sucks," Andrew muttered.

"Trust me, Coach has proposed crazier ideas than heading to Tennessee."

"Like what," Andrew asked.

"We had to start a rock concert to signal a helicopter pilot." Nelson, who was now on the other side of the candy rack, shot up like a bullet, eyes wide with shock, as were Andrew's. "Yeah, so don't talk to me about crazy."

"Damn, that does sound crazy! Reminds me of that one kid we met on the boat," Nelson said, looking down.

"Oh, one of the guys who died in the town," Nick questioned.

"HELL no," Nelson shouted. "This kid didn't have no crazy plans, but when he was killing zombies, whoo BOY was he crazy! Him and his friend Alan, big guy who loved to kill zombies more than I do, were on the deck of the ship singing that one song 'I'm on a Boat,' while they were killing zombies on a boat!"

"Damn," Nick said after letting out a low whistled. "Sounds better than any of Ellis' Keith stories."

"And he threatened to beat the shit out of Andrew there," Nelson added with a mocking tone.

"Why," Nick questioned.

"Andrew tried to rape his girlfriend," Amy answered from across the store. Andrew looked down, a frustrated blush forming across his face.

"Kid, I don't care how young you are: that's just not right."

"Yeah, well…shut up!"

"Very mature," Nelson muttered, grabbing the nearest six pack. "On top of that, he jumped on a Tank's back with a long ninja sword, while his friend Alan was stabbing the Tank's face!"

"God damn," Ellis exclaimed, his tone impressed.

"I don't care if that did work, that's just reckless," Coach replied.

"That's why those kids were amazing," was Nelson's response. "Now what else, what else…oh, in the small town that we were in, there was an endless horde of zombies right, then out of nowhere, a Tank shows up, and what does Jamie do? He starts running the opposite direction with the Tank following him!" Nick's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he dropped everything he was holding. "Then he comes back with TWO Tanks chasing him! I swear I've never seen anything so crazy in my life."

"What was his name," Nick asked frantically, whirling around to face Nelson.

"Uh…Jamie," Nelson replied, slightly confused at Nick's change of demeanor.

"Jamie who! What's his last name!"

"I didn't ask his last name," Nelson shouted.

"Then what'd he look like?"

"He had long brown hair and brown-ish eyes. Why, what's it matter?" Coach, Ellis, and Rochelle had overheard this and all eyes were on Nick and Nelson.

"Did he say anything about a family," Nick asked. "What about Kathy, or Edward?"

"What the hell are you talking about," Nelson questioned.

Coach placed a firm hand on Nick's shoulder, seconds before he was about ready to pounce on the lumberjack. Nick's breathing became heavy and irregular, causing the second group of survivors to look at the conman quizzically.

"He has a nephew named Jamie," Coach explained calmly. The new survivors remained silent, understanding Nick's outburst.

"Well…I might be able to recognize a picture or something if you had one," Nelson offered. Nick quickly pulled out his wallet and the newest picture of Jamie he had. Nelson took the picture and examined it for a moment before handing it to Amy.

"It kind of looks like him I think," Amy said, looking up at Nelson. The lumberjack nodded, taking the picture back. "They definitely have the same hair color."

"Did he make it," Nick asked, taking the picture back.

"Well…last we saw him he wasn't dead," Nelson muttered, "which is more than we can say for some. With the group he's with, I think he'd make it." Nick nodded, put his wallet back in his pocket then walked towards the exit.

"Where are you going Nick," Rochelle asked worryingly.

"I've got to go look for Jamie."

"Now who's crazy," Coach replied. "He could be anywhere in this zombie infested country! How do you think you're just gonna find him?"

"I don't know damn it," Nick shouted. "I can't just sit here wondering about my goddamn nephew! I don't care if I have to search this entire god damn continent! You guys can head to Tennessee but I'm looking for my family god damn it!" Without another word, Nick stormed out of the store and into the streets of the dead city.

Coach, Ellis, and Rochelle stood in the store, now faced with an impossible choice. If they left with Nelson and his group now, then they could head to Tennessee and get away from this nightmarish hell once and for all. But if they chose that course of action, then they'd have to live with the fact that Nick was zombie meat. Granted Nick had gotten all three of them out of some jams on various occasions, but no single person could survive out there on their own.

Coach looked down and sighed heavily before peering over to Ellis and Rochelle who seemed less reluctant than he. The heavyset man shook his head and knew that if he were in Nick's shoes he would do the same thing. Coach approached Nelson and extended his hand out.

"Thanks for everything Nelson," Coach said. The lumberjack smirked and shook the man's hand.

"Thank you for saving our asses," Nelson replied.

"I may not be there next time so be careful," the coach said with a smile. "I'm sorry, but I can't let that idiot go out on his own."

"I understand. Good luck Coach."

"You too." Coach turned and walked up to Ellis and Rochelle. "I ain't gonna make either of you choose, and I ain't gonna hold a grudge if you leave. If you do go with these guys then I'm just gonna say I'm proud of you two, and I'm gonna miss you." Coach wrapped his arms around Rochelle and Ellis' necks, only to be pushed away by them both.

"What the hell you talking about Coach," Ellis questioned. "You think we'd leave Nick to take care of you?"

"Take care of me," Coach repeated.

"I'm sorry honey, but you're way over the hill. If anything, Nick's gonna have to be watching out for you if it's both of you alone."

"Oh ain't you two the comedians? Say goodbye and catch up with us." Coach moved out of the store to follow after Nick.

"See ya'll," Ellis called out, turning to the exit.

"If you see Jamie tell him and his gang we said hello," Andrew called out, eager to earn their forgiveness. If they were still alive that is.

"If you see Alan tell him I'm alive," Amy shouted. Rochelle nodded at the door before following the rest of her team.

Nick walked through the streets, focused on one objective. Suddenly there was another person standing next to him, panting lightly. Nick looked up and saw Coach grinning at the conman.

"What the hell makes you think I'd leave you after everything we've been through?" Nick opened his mouth, but a slender arm moved around his back.

"Honestly, without me you men would be nothing but a group of immature boys," Rochelle continued. "And you probably would've killed Ellis by now sweetie." Nick was suddenly knocked to the ground as Ellis attempted to go Jockey on Nick's back.

"And how're you gonna be entertained without my Keith stories man? Seriously?"

"Ellis, get the fuck off me," Nick shouted. The mechanic got off, allowing Nick to stand to his feet. "Christ, I didn't say you all had to follow me on a suicide mission."

"We got to man," Ellis said. "We're a team, we gotta stick together."

"Hell yeah, we're gonna see everything through together," Coach added.

"And it's only a suicide mission if we don't have guns," Rochelle pointed out, looking at her empty hands. The boys looked at their equally empty hands then turned around, seeing the second group of survivors standing by their vehicle with smug smirks on their faces.

"Forget something," Nelson called out, pulling out an automatic shotgun and a grenade launcher.

"Awe yeah baby," Coach boomed before moving back to the vehicle. Rochelle and Ellis followed after Coach while Nick trailed behind with a grateful look to his friends and a warm smile across his face.

* * *

Okay, well I have a feeling this story is going to come to an end soon. Why do I think so? Because I was planning about two or three more chapters before the sequel of Back 4 More. I also want some opinions on a better title:

Pray 4 Mercy or

All 4 One

Leave your opinions in the form of a review please =)


	11. Night at the Infected Museum

Coach- automatic shotgun, dual pistols

Ellis- grenade launcher, baseball bat

Nick- magnum

Rochelle- assault rifle

The survivors waved at Nelson and his group rolled off down the road, bidding farewell to their new friends.

"By guys," Rochelle called out, "Be safe!"

"Watch your backs," Coach added. "Alright, now let's get movin."

"I got a question," Ellis spoke up. "How're we supposed to find Nick's nephew when we don't know where to start?"

"Well Amy told us where they were at when they got separated, so maybe we could just head in that general direction," Rochelle guessed.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Nick replied. "Let's head out."

The survivors followed Nick as he chose a random street to go down. He didn't care how hopeless it was that he may find Jamie, he wasn't going to leave the kid out here to die on his own.

"Keep your eyes out for something we could hijack," Nick piped up. "That way we don't have to walk the entire god damn country."

"You heard the man," Coach added. "But Nick, you know how to hotwire a car right?"

"What is that a joke? Of course I…" Nick looked back at the heavyset man, noticing the urge to not laugh on his, Ellis, and Rochelle's faces. "Oh ha-ha, you're so funny Coach."

"Take a joke man. How many times have you insulted Ellis?"

"Yeah man, almost as many times as I've told stories about my buddy Keith!" Nick rolled his eyes then continued forward. "Speakin of which, did I ever tell ya'll about the time me and my buddy Keith went to a museum? We didn't have to go for school or nothin, we just felt like goin and seein all the dinosaur skeletons and stuff. So we get in there and the signs clearly read 'do not touch the exhibit.' Well knowin Keith's luck, we don't even get close enough to touch it. Well Keith sneezed and caused this T-rex skeleton to fall on top of him and a class full of kindergarteners. We got thrown out, and Keith got chewed out by a bunch of angry parents. Oh it was so funny, in fact when I saw it fallin I shouted—CAR!"

"Ellis," Nick began, turning his head. "That makes no freaking-," Suddenly, a vehicle crashed just in front of the conman.

"I told you it was a car," Ellis shouted. Suddenly a Tank came rampaging around the corner, snorting and growling with rage.

"God damn it, not this thing," Coach hollered. "Shoot that big motha!"

The survivors began firing bullets at the Tank, only making it angrier. Ellis fired a grenade from his grenade launcher and barely missed the monstrous beast. The explosion did cause it to stumble a bit, which allowed the survivors time to fall back and shoot. The Tank slammed its hand into the ground and pulled out a chunk of pavement and hurled it at the survivors.

"Move," Coach shouted, diving to the side. Rochelle rolled forward while Ellis and Nick dove to the side opposite of Coach.

"Stand back," Ellis ordered as he finished reloading his weapon. The mechanic was crouched and this time aimed carefully at his target before squeezing the trigger. The grenade hit the Tank right in the chest, blowing its entire front body out. "Whoo hoo! Take that!"

"Good job Ellis," Coach called out.

"Let's keep moving," Nick snapped. "I don't want to wait for a Tank to fuck up every car in this city."

The survivors pressed on, heading to the street which the Tank came from and seeing a street full of cars, mostly undamaged and in fairly good condition.

"Hell it must be Christmas for ya Nick," Ellis stated as he strode forward. The mechanic stopped when something bright caught his eyes. "Hey guys check it out! We're at a museum! Just like the one Keith and I went to! Except we were further south, and I'm almost positive this ain't the one we went to because it was smaller, and there weren't statues on the outside."

"Wow Ellis," Nick muttered. "Thanks for informing us."

"Can we go to the museum please, please, please, please," Ellis pleaded.

"Sorry Ellis, but we're on a mission," Coach snapped.

"Maybe when there aren't zombies running around we could do that sweetie," Rochelle added.

"But there aren't any zombies! It was just that one Tank and hell we took care of it pretty good right?"

"Unless we have some type of proof that the museum will lead us to Jamie we're moving on." Nick started walking towards the cars, leaving everyone in silence.

"Hey what's that," Ellis asked.

"What's what," Nick inquired.

"Listen…" The survivors were silent and listened carefully. They heard the faint sound of a car alarm and the distant cry of a horde. "Shit, I think someone might be in trouble!"

"It's probably a raccoon or something," Nick snapped. Suddenly, something jumped out from behind a car and latched itself to Ellis' face.

"AH JOCKEY! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!" The mechanic tried pulling the zombie off his head, but the laughing freak of nature held on tight, pulling Ellis towards a cluster of cars.

"God damn it," Coach shouted. "Hold on Ellis!"

Nick carefully aimed his magnum then fired two rounds into the Jockey. The zombie fell off his back just as Ellis slumped forward onto a car. Unfortunately, the car alarm started blaring, setting off the annoying sound of many more alarms.

"Shit," Ellis shrieked as he saw perhaps hundreds of zombies rushing at them. "RUN MAN RUN!"

"To the museum," Rochelle called, already heading up the stairs. Coach followed after her, pulling out his pistols to give Ellis and Nick some cover.

The mechanic quickly scrambled up the stairs while Nick followed behind, firing at the infected mob. Rochelle, already halfway up the stairs stopped, turned around and started mowing down the zombies. Ellis, Coach, and Nick quickly moved up the stairs while Rochelle covered them. The survivors then ran up the stairs while Ellis was pulling out his grenade launcher.

"Forget it," Coach ordered. "Just get to those doors now!"

Rochelle and Ellis ran ahead of the group, getting to the front doors which were made of thick, heavy oak wood. Rochelle started gunning down the nearby zombies while Ellis checked to make sure the main room was clear.

Coach started slowing down, his knee pains were starting to kick in. Nick noticed and stopped to offer him cover while the heavyset man made a few steps up further. Nick growled with frustration and tried to push Coach a few times. The conman eventually took Coach's shotgun and started unloading, taking out handfuls of the horde at a time.

"Come on Coach," Rochelle shouted. "You can do it!"

Coach dug deep as he pushed himself to go faster and collapsed as soon as he got through the doors. Nick backed up slowly, still firing at a few zombies before turning and heading into the entrance. Rochelle and Ellis pushed the doors closed, barely getting them shut as the horde started pounding on them.

"We need to barricade this here door," Ellis stated.

Nick quickly looked for anything heavy that they could use. There was the front desk and a few giant crates of artifacts that never got a chance to be put on display. Nick quickly went for the nearest, tallest crate and started pushing. Coach got up and reinforced both doors, allowing Rochelle and Ellis to help Nick. The three survivors together managed to push the crate in front of the door in a matter of seconds. They moved away from the doors, realizing that the one crate would do it for now. The four dispersed throughout the room and got the desk, a few couches, and a few more crates to reinforce the doors. A minute or two later and they had a barricade that even a Tank would have trouble smashing through.

"Alright," Nick sighed out, "that was a fun distraction."

"What now," Rochelle asked. "The front door is obviously a no-go."

"Let's try the back door," Coach answered. The survivors followed Coach as he moved towards the halls.

"Man I love museums I do," Ellis piped up. "This one time me and my buddy Keith-,"

"Went to the god damn museum, didn't touch a god damn thing and then a god damn T-rex fell on god damn Keith," Nick snapped ash e walked ahead of Coach.

"Is it just me or is Nick well…acting like his old self again," Rochelle asked.

"He's got his reasons now," Coach replied, trying to defend the angry con. "He's just anxious. I know if I knew there was a chance my nephew was out here I'd be snappin at ya'll too."

"Yeah me too man," Ellis agreed. "The thing is Nick was just sort of a jerk before. I mean Coach, you've always been so nice, I don't think I'd blame you for being a jerk. But Nick, he's always been sort of a jerk…"

"I hear that," Rochelle muttered quietly.

"Hey, ease up off the man," Coach ordered. "Yeah he's not the easiest person to get along with, but he's still our friend." Rochelle and Ellis nodded in agreement.

Nick's eyes scanned the museum carefully, ready to shoot or bash any unfortunate zombie that would come after him. His mind was focused on one thing: Jamie. He hadn't seen the kid for years. Would he recognize him if he saw him? Would Jamie be happy to see his uncle Nick? A new thought popped into Nick's mind. Why didn't Nelson or Amy say anything about Edward, Jamie's brother? Nick started to grind his teeth as new thoughts flooded his mind. Had the two been separated? Or worse, had Ed been…Nick shook his head, clearing his mind of that thought.

"Hold up Nick," Coach's voice ordered shortly before placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "You hear that man?"

Nick turned his head, just now hearing the sound of a crying Witch nearby. The conman had been so deep in thought he didn't even notice the crying.

"I'll handle that bitch," Nick seethed as he rushed forward.

"Nick, wait you idiot," Coach shouted. "God damn it!" The heavyset man along with Rochelle and Ellis ran after Nick.

The conman stormed angrily into a World War II exhibit, seeing a Witch crying right below a plane suspended from the ceiling. Nick aimed his magnum carefully, shooting the first string off. The plane tilted down, but was still held up by two more strings. Nick shot a second string and the plane swung around by the tail. The gunshots and the creaking from the strings being stressed caused the Witch to already stand up, growling with anger at the loud noises. The plane swung around lazily as Nick fired the final shot. The Witch shrieked with rage, giving Nick his last warning before it was crushed beneath the model plane.

The other three survivors entered to see the wreckage of a model plane and the arm of a Witch underneath it twitching slightly. Nick turned to the others with a cocky smirk on his face.

"How do ya like that? Some good old fashion World War II bombing, Nick style."

"Hey my grand pappy was in World War II," Ellis stated. "No joke, he was one of those guys who drove the tanks and blew shit up. He told me about this one time he had to blow up an abandoned orphanage, and as it turns out the Nazis were usin it as an armory. Biggest explosion he'd ever seen in his life! He said it must've been eight stories high."

"Did Ellis just tell us a story without involving Keith," Nick questioned.

"Oh no, that's how Keith and I know each other is through our grand pappies. They met during the war, and their kids became friends, and then Keith and I became friends."

Rochelle smiled and shrugged. She saw it coming. The survivors veered around quickly when they heard the sudden shots of gunfire close by. There were also the sounds of dozens of hungry or angry zombies that followed the gunfire.

"_Get some bitches,"_ one muffled voice shouted just before there was gunfire.

"_Move faster you idiot,"_ a second voice ordered.

"_Ah, keep your pants on Doc,"_ the first voice snapped. There was more gunfire and much more infected screaming before the sound of a heavy door slammed, stopping the gunfire.

"There are other survivors here," Rochelle stated. "We gotta help them!"

"I heard that," Coach agreed with a nod. "But we gotta move quietly. There were a lot of them damn zombies in the next-," The infected then started banging on the opposite side of the wall. "Room…"

"Shit, run man run!"

The survivors turned and ran towards the nearest opening just as the dozens of infected busted the wall down. The gang made it into a 1950's exhibit, but they hardly noticed due to the horde of zombies behind them. Rochelle turned around and hosed the first wave of zombies down with her assault rifle. Coach turned around with his dual pistols and picked off a few zombies before both of them turned and continued running.

"Yo Nick, if you got any more bombin do it now!" Nick looked back at Coach then rolled his head towards the ceiling. There wasn't anything hanging from the ceiling unfortunately, except the old model car hanging above the exit.

"Head towards the exit, go, go, go!"

The survivors started following Nick who fired wildly at the strings keeping the car suspended. He managed to get two out of four just before passing through the exit. Coach and Rochelle moved through next as Ellis stopped and aimed his grenade launcher upward.

"Fire in the hole!"

A grenade flew out of the barrel, blowing a hole in the ceiling. Ellis turned and caught up with his team as the car slowly rocked back and forth a bit. The horde got right under the vehicle just before it came crashing down on top of them. Ellis grinned with pride as he turned to the others.

"Pretty cool huh?" Rochelle smiled, Coach chuckled, and Nick kept his eyes peeled.

"Come on guys, you want to save those survivors then we can't wait for another horde to show up."

The group moved back into the exhibit, looking around carefully to ensure there were no more zombies walking around. The cost was clear, and the survivors moved into the room.

"We can just go through that hole in the wall and meet up with whoever is here right?"

"Right," Coach agreed. "Let's move ya'll."

The survivors moved through the hole and stood in the center of a hallway. They turned to the side, seeing a heavy oak door shut and most likely barricaded. Coach walked up and knocked lightly.

"Is anyone there," he boomed. "Open the door! There ain't any zombies out here, let us in!" The response was pure silence. Coach pounded on the door loudly, "HEY! Let us in god damn it!"

"I think they left," Ellis said. "We need to find a way around."

"Great, let's just get a Tank to bash through another wall," Nick muttered.

"Well I got a grenade launcher. It's not bashin, but it should still make a big hole in the wall." Coach looked to the others then shrugged. It certainly was a good idea. "Alright, where do you want me to blow a hole in the wall?"

"I don't fucking care, just shoot the god damn thing," Nick snapped. Ellis shrugged then held up his grenade launcher to the wall and fired. The explosion did its job and blew a nice sized hole in the solid wall. "Let's keep moving!"

"Wait Nick," Coach shouted. The conman however was already rushing recklessly through the smoke. "God damn it! Hello, is anyone there?"

"What the fuck was that," an unrecognizable voice called out.

"That was an explosion Alan," another screamed. "Fuck my ears are still ringing!"

"What," the one called Alan shouted.

"I said my fucking ears are ringing!"

"Will both of you shut up," a woman's voice screamed. "Ah, my head is killing me!"

"Oh shit," Coach muttered. "Nick! Nick where are you! There are still people in there!"

The conman was coughing fitfully from all the dust and smoke caused from the explosion. "God damn it I can't see where I'm going!" Nick put his arm in front of her mouth to block the dust. "Why the hell is there so much dust and shit?"

"Shit," Coach handed his shotgun to Ellis. "I'm goin in to make sure Nick doesn't do something stupid!" The heavyset survivor ran full speed into the dust.

"Who the fuck blew up the god damn wall," Alan shouted. "I swear I'm gonna kick their ass!"

"Alan," Doc shouted.

"What?"

"Oh shi—you can hear me?"

"I can now," Alan screamed. "My ears are ringing like a mother fucker!"

Nick's eyes widened slightly at the sound of others' voices. There were other survivors here. The conman coughed as he removed his arm from his mouth. "Hey, don't shoot, I'm friendly!"

"We're missing one," the young woman shouted before coughing.

"God damn it," two voices shouted at the exact same time. Nick spun around, hearing Coach's voice behind him. A pistol shot rang out, followed by the shriek of a Hunter as it flew over Nick's head.

"Holy piss," the conman shouted. "Little bitch I'm gonna kill!"

"Fucking Smoker," Alan seethed loudly. "I'm gonna rip that god damn tongue out!" Nick rolled his eyes. Great, a Hunter _and_ a Smoker. Nick kept his eyes peeled and his ears sharp as he moved slowly into the smoke.

"Nick," Coach shouted just before he coughed. "God damn it where are you!"

"Who the fuck is that," Doc said loudly. "Hello? Who the hell are you?"

"We're survivors," Nick called out. "There's a Hunter and Smoker somewhere so watch your fire!"

"WHAT," Alan shouted. Nick rolled his eyes, keeping his magnum up in front of him.

"Nobody shoot," Coach ordered. "Everyone just get out of the damn smoke!" Nick didn't pay attention. There couldn't be that much smoke for those two infected bastards to hide in.

Nick looked around carefully for anything out of the ordinary. He heard a low, recognizable growling that came from a Hunter. Nick tensed up, his eyes darting around wildly. Suddenly, he saw a shadow running full speed through the smoke. The conman let out a short laugh before firing a shot at the shadow, causing it to hit the ground.

"JAMIE!"

Nick's eyes widened with horror as the sound echoed off the walls of the vacant museum, and within Nick's head. The sound of the young woman shrieking that name with horror played over and over in Nick's mind. He didn't even notice the Hunter watching him with hungry eyes…

* * *

I'm really sorry if this chapter seemed rushed, but I'm a little tired with this story since it's leading nowhere and fast. I know that probably reflects poorly on me as an author but…I'm just so bored with this story…

Next chapter will be the epilogue, just forewarning you, and it'll be shorter than this one.

Oh and don't think I've forgotten about Maria at the end of Back 4 More. You won't know her fate until the sequel! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Read and review please =)


	12. Epilogue

Coach- dual pistols

Ellis- grenade launcher, baseball bat, automatic shotgun

Nick- magnum

Rochelle- assault rifle

* * *

"Get down Nick," Coach's voice echoed. The conman was shoved to the ground as a Hunter pounced Coach, knocking him to the floor. "God damn it!"

The Hunter clawed Coach's ribs, leaving four long scratches in the man's skin. Coach grabbed the Hunter's jacket then threw him to the side. The Hunter rolled over its shoulders then landed in its crouched position. The infected roared as it prepared to pounce again.

"Fore!" A large man with a shaved head and goatee, wearing a tight, short sleeved muscle shirt strode forward and slammed a golf club into the gut of the Hunter, causing it to shriek with pain and lie flat on its stomach. "Suck it!" The young man then connected the end of the golf club with the Hunter's face, literally breaking its face. The muscled young man lifted the golf club above his head and cheered. "Ten points for Alan! I'm the greatest!" Suddenly, a long, slimy pink muscle wrapped around Alan's body. "Uh—OH!" The Smoker pulled back on Alan, dragging him through the smoke and dust.

"Hold on kid," Coach called out, chasing after him.

"I swear I'm gonna beat you to shit you god damn Smoker," Alan shouted. Gunfire rang out and the Smoker's tongue went limp. Alan grumbled as he tried to pull the tongue off his body. Coach ran up, knelt down and started to help him.

"You alright son," the heavyset man asked.

"Peachy," Alan replied. The buff survivor looked up, seeing an unfamiliar, human face. "Holy—you're not a zombie!"

"Thanks for that," Coach said with a joking tone.

"No, no I mean you're a survivor! I thought we were the only ones still alive!"

"Don't we all." Coach threw the tongue off Alan then helped him to his feet. The dust and smoke finally settled, and Rochelle and Ellis came running towards Coach.

"Hot damn, who's this guy," Ellis asked. "He looks like he's a Tank without the infection."

"The name's Alan, and you're no scrawny punk yourself." Alan gave a playful punch on Ellis' arm then took a mock fighting stance. Ellis laughed then returned the stance, both bouncing around on their toes while throwing mock punches.

"Hey, enough horsing around," Coach said with a laugh.

"NICK," Rochelle shrieked. The men snapped their heads around, seeing Nick holding the magnum to his head.

"What the hell," Coach shouted as he and Ellis ran towards him. Alan quickly took two steps forward and hurled the golf club at the conman. The metal object hit Nick in the back of the head, knocking him off balance as a shot rang out. Coach and Ellis tackled Nick and knocked his gun out of the way.

"What the hell are you thinkin Nick," Coach shouted.

"Get the hell off me," Nick screamed, wrestling with his two friends.

"Come on Nick, what the hell was that for?"

"Whose bright idea was it to shoot the god damn grenade at the wall!"

"Wait, that was you guys," Alan asked, turning to Rochelle. The newswoman simply stared back with disbelief then walked towards her group.

Suddenly, a door flew open, causing everyone except Nick to turn to the sound. An angry looking brunette with her hair back into a ponytail walked out, fiery eyes scanning the room around her. Despite a look that could make Tanks run for fear, Ellis' eyes widened with shock at the astounding beauty of the woman.

"Who the HELL shot Jamie?"

"Wait, someone shot Jamie," Alan asked. "Why don't I know what's going on?"

"Now calm down," Coach grunted, trying to keep Nick pinned to the ground. "This is all a big misunderstanding!"

"Is he gonna be okay," Alan asked.

"He got shot in the hip," the brunette replied. "He's gonna be fine, but I'm still PISSED!"

"Wait," Nick spoke up. "I shot him in the hip?"

"And you were ready to shoot yourself in the head," Rochelle snapped accusingly. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Which one shot him," the brunette asked.

"Th-that'd be Nick," Ellis stammered idiotically. The brunette took a step forward before Alan jumped forward and held her back with his massive arms wrapped around her body.

"Whoa Zoey, hold up!"

"I'm gonna beat your ass down Colonel Sanders!" Ellis chuckled stupid, still unable to bring himself to focus on anything besides Zoey's face.

"Colonel Sanders," Alan, Nick, and Coach asked simultaneously. Alan shook his head then started walking away from the new survivors.

"Zoey, I think you've become too violent! These guys are survivors like us, not zombies! You can't just kick their asses for no reason! We don't have enough people to form a street gang yet!"

"Yeah," Ellis agreed, again not paying any attention to anything. "Nick didn't mean to shoot his nephew…" Zoey and Alan both froze, staring at the idiotic redneck with blank stares.

"Nephew," they both repeated.

"Yeah, names Nick, nice to meet ya," the conman replied, annoyed by everything so far in the past hour. Him trying to kill himself from shooting his nephew in the hip made him feel like more of an idiot that Ellis.

"Wait, you're _the_ Nick," Zoey asked. Coach and Ellis got off the conman, allowing him to sit up and nod in response. "What kind of uncle shoots his own nephew?"

"Hey listen here cupcake, I didn't know who it was alright? Although I'm starting to wish I shot you instead!"

"Bring it wuss!" Nick suddenly rose to his feet, eyes hardening with anger to match Zoey's rage.

"ENOUGH," Coach shouted loudly enough to shut up an entire horde. "This whole thing is one big misunderstanding so stop BITCHIN about it or I'll kick both of your asses myself!" Everyone was dead silent and staring at Coach with wide eyes. Ellis and Rochelle took a step away from him, completely terrified from seeing Coach this upset.

"Is Jamie okay," Coach asked after a prolonged silence.

"Doc said he should be fine," Zoey replied, her tone now quiet. "Uh, I'm Zoey by the way, nice to meet…most of you."

"I'm Alan."

"You all can just call me Coach."

"I'm Rochelle, it's a pleasure to see some new faces." Nick grunted, turning away as he crossed his arms. They already knew who he was. Ellis had the dumbest smile on his face as he stared at Zoey, unable to form any proper words. "Ellis," Rochelle said quietly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Ellis sweetie, are you okay?"

"H-hi," the mechanic said. "I'm Ellis…"

"Hi Ellis," Zoey replied slowly, a bit freaked out by the mechanic's stare. There was the sound of a door creaking open, causing the six survivors to turn their heads around. A tall man with blonde hair neatly swept back, wearing a dark red button up shirt and black khaki pants walked in.

"Who're the new guys," the blonde asked.

"Coach," Alan began, pointing at the big black guy. "Rochelle, Ellis, and Jamie's uncle Nick. Coach, Rochelle, Ellis, Jamie's uncle Nick, this is Doc, our doctor."

"Hello," Doc replied carelessly, giving a lazy wave. "Which one of you guys shot him?" Doc turned his head to Alan, giving an expectant glare.

"It was me," Nick muttered.

"Wait," Doc began, spinning around to face the conman. "You're Jamie's uncle…and you shot him?"

"Is he okay or not," Nick snapped.

"Yeah he's fine," Doc replied. "Zoey, he said you could come see him, only if you didn't kill anyone. Personally, I would've been okay if you at least roughed Alan up a bit." Zoey smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Thanks Doc," she muttered quietly before heading to the back room.

"Tell him he's not to be walking," Doc called out after her. "At least not until we get him some pain pills…"

"So I guess you're the leader of the group," Rochelle inquired, trying to stir up conversation.

"Who me," Doc asked, pointing to himself. "Hell no, Jamie's the one whose been keeping us alive."

"Say what," Nick questioned, a hint of outrage in his tone.

"That kid is crazy, bold, brave, and probably one of the most reckless people I know. Second only to one," Doc muttered, looking over at Alan.

"What," the buff survivor asked definitively. Doc rolled his eyes then looked back to the others.

"You're letting a kid whose not even twenty years old leading you guys," Nick seethed. "What kid of man are you?"

"A man who doesn't jump on Tanks for fun," Doc replied. The survivors' jaws dropped with shock. "Or who throws himself in front of Hunters to save other people…or runs off with Tanks chasing him to save a group of people or-,"

"I think they get it," Alan said, slightly annoyed that Jamie had a more impressive track record than him. "Trust us: Jamie is a natural leader. We would've been zombie lunch a long time ago if it wasn't for his crazy ass thinking."

"Nick," a voice called out. The survivors turned back to the door, seeing a ticked off Zoey looking out. "Jamie wants to see you." Her tone obviously implied she still hated the man. "And this time don't bring a gun." Zoey retreated back into the room while Nick glared at her for the comment.

"Well, this is it," the conman told himself.

"Go get em Nick," Coach said, smacking the conman's back for support. Nick took a deep breath then walked towards the room.

Nick's thoughts were racing, going through countless possibilities of what Jamie's reaction would be. Would he be mad that he shot him? No shit. Would he be angry that he never saw him? Had Kathy's hatred of Nick wore off on Jamie? Maybe he'd be happy to see his dear old uncle…not likely.

Before Nick knew it, he was already at the doorway, turning the corner to see his nephew, now a young man. He was shirtless, most likely so Doc could get to the bullet wound. There were various scratches and scars all over Jamie's body. Doc did say Jamie threw himself into harm's way to save his friends countless times. This must've been the result. Jamie had shoulder length, light brown hair that was parted at the forehead. Jamie looked up to Nick, a smile coming across his face.

"Hey Uncle Nick…" Nick stood there for a moment in silence. For the first time in a long time, Nick was genuinely scared. The conman swallowed down his nervousness and opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey kiddo…"

**

* * *

AND IT'S OVER! Again with the cliff hangers? I'm a bitch aren't I? Muahahaha! Well, I'm happy this is now over and done with. The sequel won't be up immediately though, because I want to finish Itachi and Kisame Get High which'll be like one or two more chapters and I want to give myself time to work on other stuff too.**

**Also, I'll be releasing the sequel to Halo: Combat Red around the same time I release the sequel for Back 4 More. Also, to vote for Back 4 More's sequel title, I'll have a poll up on my profile, so vote for it there.**

**With all that said and done, please leave some reviews people! And keep your eyes peeled for the sequel! Adios! =)**


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